70.855 State assessment of commercial property.

(1) Applicability. The department of revenue shall assess real and personal property assessed as commercial property under s. 70.32 (2) (a) 2. if all of the following apply:

(a) The property owner and the governing body of the municipality where the property is located submit a written request to the department on or before March 1 of the year of the assessment to have the department assess the property owner's real and personal commercial property located in the municipality.

(b) The written request submitted under par. (a) specifies the items of personal property and parcels of real property for the department's assessment.

(c) The assessed value of the property owner's commercial property in the municipality in the previous year, as specified under par. (b), is at least $24,000,000.

(d) The assessed value of the property owner's commercial property in the municipality in the previous year, as specified under par. (b), represents at least 9 percent of the total assessed value of all property in the municipality.

(e) The property is located in a 4th class city.

(2) Valuation.

(a) The department of revenue shall determine the full market value of the property subject to the request under sub. (1). The department may request from the property owner or the municipality where the property is located any information that the department considers necessary to perform its duties under this section. Failure to submit the requested information to the department shall result in denial of any right of redetermination by the tax appeals commission by the party failing to provide the requested information.

(b) The department shall determine the value of the property subject to the request under sub. (1) no later than June 1 and shall provide written notice to the property owner and the governing body of the municipality of its findings and the value it has determined for the affected property.

(c) Appeal of the determination of the department under this subsection shall be made to the tax appeals commission.

(3) Assessor duty. The assessor of the municipality where the property is located shall use the department's valuation of the property under sub. (2) for determining the property's value on the assessment roll, adjusted, to the best of the assessor's ability, to reflect the assessment ratio of other property located in the municipality.

(4) Costs.

(a) The department of revenue shall impose a fee on each municipality in which commercial property is assessed under this section equal to the cost of the department's assessment of that property under this section. Except as provided in par. (b), each municipality that is assessed a fee under this paragraph shall collect the amount of the fee as a special charge against the taxable property located in the municipality, except that no municipality may apply the special charge disproportionately to owners of commercial property relative to owners of other property.

(b) If the department of revenue does not receive the fee imposed on a municipality under par. (a) by March 31 of the year following the department's determination under sub. (2) (b), the department shall reduce the distribution made to the municipality under s. 79.02 (2) (b) by the amount of the fee and shall transfer that amount to the appropriation under s. 20.566 (2) (ga).

History: 2013 a. 20.