ABOVE: Jessica Laue, Martin County’s new County Assessor, said some tax shifts will be apparent on upcoming notices but her office is willing to help.

FAIRMONT–Residents of Martin County will soon get their Truth in Taxation notices which give an estimate of property taxes based on the preliminary rate set by the jurisdiction the property is located on. Jessica Laue, the new Martin County Assessor, acknowledged that most everyone’s property taxes will see an increase, but said her office is ready to share about programs that may benefit taxpayers, as well as answer any questions .

Laue grew up in Kimball and met her husband, Tyler, who is from the area, while in school at St. Cloud Technical College. There she got her degree in accounting.

As for how she ended up in Martin County, Laue said, “I guess the moral of the story is his farm was bigger than mine.”

With her degree, Laue knew she wanted to start working with taxes and shared that she was the first in her family to graduate from college.

Laue relocated to the area in 2012 and began working as an appraiser in the Martin County Assessor’s Office in 2019.

She became the County Assessor in August of this year, a few months after the sudden death of former County Assessor, Mike Sheplee, who passed away in May.

“The plan was there, it just happened sooner than anticipated,” Laue explained.

To be a county assessor one needs to be AMA certified, which Laue was working toward before Sheplee passed away. When the position became open she finished up the process by taking an eight hour test in June and officially started the role after an application process in August.

“The transition in our office after Mike passed away has not been easy. Mike was more than a boss to us; he was a leader, a mentor and a motivator,” Laue said.

While the office has gone through some big and difficult transitions this year, it’s also shown up and stepped up when needed. This year the Assessor’s Office was the recipient of the 2025 Steven M. Donnelly Commissioner’s Award, which recognizes a select employee, department or committee that has exhibited overall exemplary performance and citizenship.

Members of the department include Debra Eversman, Norma Padgett, Jeremiah Fitzgerald, Crystal Utesch and Laue.

This time of year the office is busy preparing to answer questions that may come to the office about the proposed property tax notices.

“We’re going to see a little bit of a shift with our taxes between the classifications,” Laue said.

She shared that from the 2024 assessment to the 2025 payable 2026 assessment, there was a decrease in ag land valuation.

“It wasn’t a huge difference but it was enough to cause a slight shift,” Laue said. “It will shift taxes a little bit heavier to the commercial, industrial and residential.”

While a person’s property valuation can’t be changed for next year’s taxes, it can be changed going forward if a review of the property shows that the valuation is not where it should be.

“We come out every five years with our bright yellow vests,” Laue said.

Along with that, Laue said what’s driving the majority of the property tax increases is the levy.

Of the various tax levies set by government units– school districts, cities, townships and the county– Laue said very few have gone down.

“When you think about how businesses run, there are a lot of expenses and expenses are going up everywhere, from health insurance costs to gas, businesses have to cover that and this is what that’s reflective of. The businesses, or government entity, have to cover those increased costs,” Laue explained.

Right now, the only town seeing a decrease is Galena Township which is looking at a tax levy decrease of 10 percent. Some of the school districts in the county, with the exception of Fairmont, are also looking at a decrease. However, all other towns and townships are either unchanged or facing an increase ranging from 7.67 percent in the city of Welcome to 22.39 percent in the city of Trimont.

While valuation notices can be argued in the spring, upcoming Truth in Taxation meetings, which will happen in December, is the time for people to share thoughts and concerns with a jurisdiction’s budget and levy.

On the bottom of each Truth in Taxation notice there is information about upcoming meetings. In the meantime, Laue said her office is happy to help in any way it can.

“I get it. It’s their pocketbooks. It’s not personal. When we have conversations with people, we give them all of the information we have that can help them with their property taxes, possibly, depending on if they qualify for programs,” Laue said.

Some of the programs include the Homestead including for owner occupants and qualifying relatives of the owners and Special Ag/Actively Farming homestead owners.

“There is a Disabled Veteran’ Homestead exclusion for individuals who have a disability rating of 70 percent or more,” Laue said.

All of those programs have an application deadline of Dec. 31.

“Of course there’s the Homestead credit refund which is done with your income taxes. There are two types, one is a regular and one is a special. I definitely encourage people to talk to their tax-preparer on that one because some people won’t qualify for regular… but with the special, if your property taxes increased by 12 percent or more, and it’s not due to new construction, then you qualify for that,” Laue said.

She said her office tries to catch every transaction that comes through to send out a Homestead application to new property owners, too.

The bottom line, Laue said, is that property taxes are going to go up..

“But if we can get more people online with the savings the state has available, then maybe it can help,” Laue said.