Samantha Kerkman
Twin Lakes taxpayers are yet another step closer to having an error in the village’s equalized value not effect their next property tax bill.
The state Senate has now also passed a bill, originally introduced by state Rep. Samantha Kerkman, to correct the error.
From a press release from Kerkman’s office:
The Senate concurred in Assembly Bill 273 (AB 273) last night on a unanimous vote, sending the bill by Rep. Samantha Kerkman and Senators Wirch, Wanggaard, and Darling to the Governor’s office. Said Representative Kerkman, “I thank the Senate for their action on this bill and am pleased the property-tax payers in Twin Lakes will be held harmless by the equalized value error that occurred earlier this year.†Due to a clerical-type error, the Village of Twin Lakes was overvalued by approximately $70 million. Under current statutory provisions the DOR would correct the error in a subsequent year, which would have resulted in village property-tax payers paying an artificially high tax this year – on average, in excess of $200 more. “It was important that we fix this problem before homeowners received their property tax bills. I am glad that we were able to work together on a bipartisan basis to address the needs of the residents of the 22nd Senate district,†said Senator Wirch. Because the Department of Revenue does not have the statutory authority to simply change a taxation district’s equalized value after it has been published, AB 273 allows the Department of Revenue (DOR) to make a no-interest loan to the village and allows the village to use the loan to offset the property taxes that would have otherwise been erroneously imposed. “This is what legislating should be about – working together to solve a problem,” said Senator Wanggaard. “I am glad that we showed we can work in a bipartisan fashion to keep people in their homes and avoid a large, unnecessary property tax hike in Twin Lakes.” AB 273 lowers the overvaluation threshold on a current loan program from 10 percent to 7.5 percent and provides that if property tax bills have not already been sent to property owners, the loan by the DOR would be made to the village to make payments rather than the village using the DOR dollars to make loans to individual affected taxpayers. The authors are optimistic that the bill will receive the Governor’s signature and will enable the Village of Twin Lakes to prepare property-tax bills unaffected by the error.
