Wright County residents press board over confusing property-tax notices as proposed levy nudges down

Wright County supervisors heard more than an hour of public comment expressing confusion and distrust over the stateissued property-tax notice before closing a public hearing on the proposed county levy.

Several residents told the board they could not read the mailed notices because numbers lack dollar signs, commas and clear labels. "I don't understand, you know, in the little boxes here," one resident said during public comment, adding some people mistake the notice for a bill and have written checks.

County staff and the assessor said the notices are produced from auditor files by an external vendor under state direction and that the mailing is meant to show the maximum potential tax rate. The assessor explained that the "levy rate" is the amount of tax per $1,000 of assessed value and described how the state rollback (a percentage applied to assessed value) and rising valuations interact to change effective tax bills. A county staff member estimated the statewide cost of producing and mailing these notices exceeds $1 million and said some counties have adjusted formatting locally to reduce confusion.

Amanda Rink of the Wright County Monitor asked that the county consider placing clearer explanatory text in local papers and offered the newspaper's help to reduce confusion.

The hearing did not adopt a final levy; it was a public comment session required before final action. Supervisors voted to close the hearing and to return to regular business.

The board will take formal action on the levy at a future meeting after considering public input and finalizing budgetary and rollback figures.