Assessment/Property Records/Tax Specialist

Job Description

JOB OBJECTIVES:

The Assessment/Property Records/Tax Specialist provides customer service and specializes in administrating and managing the property tax system; responsible for technical work requiring knowledge of statutes, policies, and procedures. This position requires specialized knowledge, independent judgment and requires interpretation of laws, policies, Department of Revenue directives, and legal documents.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: The duties listed are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of those specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related or a logical assignment to the position.

• First point of contact for property owners and taxpayers. Must possess excellent communication skills.
• Answer inquiries from attorneys, surveyors, other county offices, land developers, and the public on specialized procedures for tax parcel divisions or transfers, ownership of property, legal descriptions, lot size, new annexations, school, fire, and sewer districts.
• Ability to explain Minnesota's complex property tax system to taxpayers in the terminology they can understand.
• Technical support with the ability to respond to routine and non-routine inquiries requiring technical knowledge on a variety of subjects: property title and descriptions, appraisal principles and procedures, property classification standards, property tax calculation, sales ratio information, the appeal process, homestead, various special tax programs and benefits, Value and Classification Notices, Truth and Taxation Notices, and Tax Statements.

ADMINISTRATION:

• Responsible for the proper administration of the highly detailed property classification process for over 30,000 parcels.
• Determine eligibility, approval, or denial for numerous classifications and special programs.
• Utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) system to code, link, and sequence parcels for tax calculation taking into consideration the location of the property, the proximity from the primary parcel, ownership status, use of the property, land classification, and the number of acres.
• Prepare, mail, and process various forms, and applications, including but not limited to homestead applications, Green Acres, Rural Preserve, Disabled Veteran Exclusion, Blind/Disabled, tax-exempt/charitable, Resort Declarations, and Short Term Rental Property Declarations.
• Prepare, mail, and process mass mailings as determined by the Department of Revenue due to changes in classification requirements.
• Create additional records for splits and plats in the I-Series computer program maintenance system, the Computer Aided Mass Appraisal (CAMA), and the Land Calculation (Land Calc) computer system. Distribute value accordingly. Subdivide parcels into multiple records when there are multiple uses on a parcel.
• Stay current on Department of Revenue and statute changes regarding property classification, tax programs, and net-tax capacity rates changes.
• Understand, explain, administer, code, and maintain numerous types of homesteads as established by statute: residential homestead, agricultural homestead, relative residential homestead, relative agricultural homestead, spousal homestead, trust-held homestead, special agricultural homestead, blind homestead, disabled homestead, etc.
• Maintain confidential social security numbers for the Department of Revenue.
• Make value and classification changes in the I-Series maintenance and CAMA in compliance with Department of Revenue guidelines to correct clerical errors, extend homesteads, remove tax-forfeited property from the tax rolls, change from taxable to exempt, etc. Send correspondence letters to property owners explaining any changes.
• Complete transfers, combinations, and splits to update the assessor's records. The appraiser must first determine the value distribution before the split can be processed in the I-Series maintenance, CAMA, and Land Calc.
• Verify the accuracy of value and classification records through various edits.
• Accountable for examining and accurately determining the ownership and legal description of real estate parcels.
• Read and interpret complicated legal descriptions.
• Create abbreviated legal descriptions for split or combined parcels.
• Determine if the real estate description being conveyed is a transfer, split, or combination of property.
• Have a strong comprehension of the intent of various documents - warranty deeds, limited warranty deeds, quitclaim deeds, corrective deeds, contracts for deed, trustee's deeds, deeds executed pursuant to a court order, etc.

• Change, create, and delete parcels and descriptions from the property records database (I-Series) with close attention to detail when placing new parcels in the proper unique taxing district.
• Perform complex title research; review, analyze, evaluate, and interpret the chain of title and defects. Make corrections, as necessary.
• Certify whether taxes are delinquent prior to ownership transfer.
• Administer the highly detailed annexation process when an adjustment is made to the boundary of an existing city, township, fire, sewer, or school district.
• Provide copies of recorded documents to the surveyor's office to update the GIS online mapping system and to the auditor/treasurer's office to reallocate special assessments.

• Performs the clerical duties necessary to facilitate the efficient operation of the office.
• Complies with all rules and policies in order to maintain a safe work environment.
• Reliable, predictable attendance and punctuality.
• Other duties, as assigned or apparent.

In this job, you may come across private or confidential information about people we serve. This data is protected by law and should only be viewed or used when it’s truly needed for your work. You are expected to only look at private data when your job duties require it. Keep it secure and make sure others who don’t need to see it don’t have access, stop accessing the data once your task is done, and store or dispose of it properly, following the rules in Minnesota’s Data Practices Act (Chapter 13). If your job duties change and you need access to different private data, that access should also be limited to only what you need to do your job.

REQUIRED MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AT HIRE:

Education

High School Diploma or GED.

2-year post-secondary degree or 4 full-time years of work experience in a business setting.

Experience

Prior work experience must provide the applicant with a thorough knowledge of standard office practices and procedures.

Work experience must also demonstrate the applicant's ability to show extreme attention to detail.

Licenses and Other Requirements:

Successfully complete the Assessment Laws and Procedures course which deals with the roles and duties of the assessor, basic laws & principles of property valuation classification, and the property tax process, sponsored by the Minnesota Association of Assessing Officers, the Minnesota Department of Revenue, and the Minnesota State Board of Assessors, within one year of hire.

Successfully complete the Department of Revenue tax calculation certification course within one year of hire.

REQUIRED MINIMUM KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES, & QUALITIES AT HIRE:
Strong math and computer skills.
Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing.
Ability to establish and maintain working relationships with associates and the general public.
Ability to grasp complex concepts; apply and interpret complex laws, rules, and regulations.
Ability to handle confrontational situations in a professional manner.
Ability to perform and organize work independently while working on multiple projects simultaneously.

PREFERRED / DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

Education

See required minimum qualifications at hire.

Experience
Experience with legal documents, property descriptions, property tax, and computer-aided mass appraisal systems.
Experience with GIS mapping, database management, excel, word, and application extenders.
Experience in local government or government-related to property tax.
Experience using CPT - Counties Providing Technology tax system software.
Experience using a Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) program.
Experience working in a Real Estate, Abstractor, or Attorney's Office.
Experience working with an Appraisal or Geographic Information System (GIS), or with Legal Descriptions.

PREFERRED / DESIRABLE KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES, & QUALITIES:

WORK ENVIRONMENT
Public building - office environment.

HOURS
Generally, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS CAN INVOLVE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

EXAMPLES OF EQUIPMENT USED

Computer/I- series, scanner, calculator, copy/fax machine, land measure compass, property records database, computer-aided mass appraisal database, land calculation database, sales ratio database, state electronic certificate of real estate database, Microsoft Office, GIS/Pictometry, Word and Word Perfect, Application Extender, Land shark, Land link.

OTHER

All listed above are essential functions of the job.

• Receive anniversary step increases plus annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) approved by the Board of Commissioners.

Sick Leave/Earned Safe and Sick Time: An employee shall be credited with 1 day of sick leave for each month of service, accumulative to 90 days. The first 48 hours (or up to 80 hours if any eligible time was carried over) will be counted as ESST.

This job description does not constitute an employment agreement between the employer and employee, and is subject to change by the employer as the needs of the employer and the requirements of the job change.

Revised: Updated 3/2026.