The Sherburne County Board voted unanimously to approve a settlement agreement regarding distributions from tax forfeited properties during their last meeting in June.
The settlement agreement was the result of a class action lawsuit regarding property forfeiture.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that Hennepin County’s actions were unconstitutional when it kept the surplus from a tax forfeiture sale. That Tyler v. Hennepin County decision led to two class action lawsuits filed for other Minnesota property owners against the state whose surplus proceeds were also kept by their counties.
State legislators determined that the counties were following state statute when they kept the excess proceeds, resulting in a decision by the state to reimburse those property owners about $109 million.
The settlement agreement covers about 6,000 properties going back eight years. Most of those property owners affected could get up to 90% of the surplus from their forfeiture sales.
Sherburne County Attorney Kathleen Heaney said Sherburne County and the county auditor-treasurer were also named in one of the lawsuits - Sharon Sporleder vs. State of Minnesota, venued in Ramsey County District Court.
“That puts us in a little different position than some other folks who have not been named in any of the three cases,” she said.
Under the settlement, the county is required to compile a list of all affected property owners. The time period covered is from June 23, 2016 through Dec. 31, 2023.
“We will then have to finalize that work through the auditor-treasurer’s office and affirm that work by Aug., 1 2024,” said Heaney.
Grant Agreement
The board approved a three-year Promising Practices Grant Agreement between the MN Dept. of Health and Sherburne County, and accept an initial amount of $150,000 for the first year. The grant helps support families with individualized connections to support services, and home visiting activities to support prenatal and parenting growth and development.
Staff Reclassifications
The board approved the following position reclassifications and corresponding pay grade changes for county staff: Deputy Assessor - Grade 16 to 17; County Assessor - Grade 19 to 20; Transport/Court Security Sergeant (four employees) - Grade 14 to 15; Sergeant - Patrol & Investigative (13 employees) - Grade 15 to 16; Captain (three employees) - Grade 18 to 19; Commander - Grade 19 to 20.
The total approximate 2024 cost of implementing the reclassifications is $155,500.
Other Business
In other actions the board:
• Passed a resolution to add one property to the Hwy. 169/Co. Rd. 4 interchange right-of-way acquisition list. The property was not included in original resolution passed at the last meeting;
• Approved the following transfers from the Unallocated Recorders Compliance Fund; Annual maintenance fees for IT Dept. for 2025 ($300,758); Maintenance fees for property tax payment system ($2,526); Two Trimble receivers in Surveyor’s office ($30,000); 10 iPads for Assessor’s Dept. ($8,790);
• Approved the appointment of three county staff to the Minnesota Counties Information Systems (MCIS) Board of Directors: Michelle Moen, County Assessor, as Director; Brian Kamman, I.T. Director, as Alternate Director and Loraine Rupp, Auditor-Treasurer as Second Alternate Director.
