Herman Gehrke v. Frank H. Weiss And

Relator Ramsey County appeals from a decision of the Minnesota Tax Court granting partial summary judgment to respondents Brookfield Trade Center, Inc. and Petula Associates, Inc. (collectively "Brookfield"), and denying summary judgment to Ramsey County. On remand from this court, the issue before the tax court was whether an assessment agreement establishing the minimum market value for a development property for tax assessment purposes was invalid because the assessor did not comply with the statutory certification requirements set forth in Minn. Stat. 备273.76, subd. 8 (1984). The tax court determined the statute required the assessor to conduct an independent valuation analysis and found that because there was no evidence to show the assessor conducted such an analysis the agreement was invalid. We reverse, concluding that the certification statute requires only an estimate of value based on the assessors judgment, and that Brookfield failed to rebut the presumption that the assessor complied with the statutory certification requirements.