The Buckwheat Valley Citizens Coalition (BVCC) has been very involved in local taxation issues in the Town of La Valle, Sauk County, Wisconsin, where BVCC has its Wisconsin office. A member citizen of BVCC testified before the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (WDOR) at a WDOR hearing on May 26, 2011. An extensive "Case Study" was presented to the WDOR. This "Case Study" took over 1-1/2 years to complete and it outlined the proceedings of a La Valle tax payers journey regarding the 2010 Tax Revaluation Period, and the resulting 2010 Property Tax Assessment. The "Case Study" provided the WDOR with over 125 pages of documents that followed the tax payers footprint from September of 2009 through April of 2011. BVCC is very concerned about what that "Case Study" revealed regarding the processes known as the "Open Book", the "Board of Review" and the final "WDOR Appeal", pursuant to S. 70.85 Wisconsin Statutes. These process stages are clearly described within Wisconsin Tax Statutes and are presumed to be carried out in a fair and just manner. However, after careful review of the "Case Study" documents, BVCC noticed significant flaws which were documented within the "Case Study". The WDOR was asked to investigate the "Case Study" documents for any violations of Wisconsin laws. BVCC applauds the work of over 455 La Valle citizens who joined together and filed a successful "Citizens Reassessment Petition" with the WDOR to review the accuracy of the Tax Revaluation process of 2010.. It is now up to the WDOR to evaluate all of the tax role records and determine if the Tax Revaluation of 2010 was conducted properly, in accordance with WDOR assessment policy and regulations. BVCC will follow this process and report the results when the WDOR investigation is concluded.
Contact us at: buckwheatvalley@mwt.net
