Conferences

 

 

 

2012 Fall Conference
September 23 - 26, 2012
Breezy Point Conference Center
9252 Breezy Point Drive
Brainerd Lakes Area
Breezy Point, Minnesota 56472



♦ Commissioner of Revenue's Annual Meeting with Assessors
♦ MAAO Annual Meeting and Election of Officers
♦ Topical Educational Seminars
♦ Social Events

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Breezy Point Conference Center
Breezy Point, a Minnesota resort has attracted guests to this area for over 80 years. As you drive through the Breezy Point Minnesota resort gates and follow the tree-lined road, it is evident what has attracted these guests. Come stay in the first-rate lodging, enjoy the superior Minnesota conference center, great food, top-notch service and superb Brainerd golf course, and you'll have the best of the Brainerd Lakes vacation area, right at Breezy Point Resort, Minnesota. Located on Pelican Lake, near Brainerd Minnesota, they offer families one of the most beautiful vacation experiences or golf vacations available in the north woods of Minnesota.

 

Breezy Point has reserved the Breezy Point Inn and Suites and Breezy Center for our group

Breezy Inn  Executive Suite (1 King & 1 hide-a-bed):
$129.00 plus tax = $137.87
Breezy Inn King Leisure (1 King & 1 hide-a-bed):
$99.00 plus tax = $105.81
Breezy Inn Double Queen (2 queen beds):

$99.00 plus tax = $105.81
Breezy Center 2 doubles:
$99.00 plus tax = $105.81
Breezy Center Suite:
$129.00 plus tax = $137.87
Lodge Apartment:
$129.00 plus tax = $137.87

The room reservation is included as an attachment to this announcement.  Please click here for the form.  Attendees are responsible for making their own lodging reservations.  Please Mail or Fax the lodging registration form by August 23, 2012.  Reservations made after that date are on availability basis for the conference rates.  PHONE RESERVATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.  Want extra nights?  The Saturday night and days after the conference are at the conference rate.
The Conference fee of $275.00 includes eight meals.  A meal package for companions is available for $154.00.  Individual commuter meals must be purchased through the resort.  Commuter lunches are $25.00 and include continental breakfast, lunch, tax and tip.  commuter dinners are $35.00 including tax and tip.  One seminar either Tuesday or Wednesday is $55.00.  One 8-hour seminar or two seminars Tuesday and Wednesday are $90.00
Commissioner of Revenue's Annual Meeting with Assessors
Commissioner of Revenue Myron Frans and staff will hold the Annual Meeting with Assessors on Monday, September 24, 2012 from 9:00 AM to noon. This session promises to be full of new information and timely announcements.
MAAO Annual Meeting
The Minnesota Association of Assessing Officers invites you to the 66th Annual Conference of the MAAO. The conference includes the Commissioner of Revenue’s Annual Meeting with Assessors; the Annual Meeting of the MAAO and the MAAO sponsored seminars for continuing education.  Come early on Sunday and play golf at one of the many golf courses in the area.  This information event will start at the noon kickoff.  Sunday night at 6:00 we will be at a Cookout on the Deck at the Dockside Deck Bar.  On Monday afternoon conference participants will be treated to a choice of fishing contest, golf or boating ($5.00 charge per boater).  We will be able to eat at our leisure up until 9:30 PM at the Marina II restaurant.  Meeting attire is resort casual and the banquet is business casual. 
MAAO Vendors Area
MAAO welcomes the vendors that contribute to the Fall Conference. All vendors will be situated in the Whitebirch Lobby on Monday and Tuesday.  Please stop by and talk with them.
MAAO Hospitality Room
Regions 1 and 8 will host the MAAO Hospitality Room.  The event will be held in Suite #255 Lakeside, Breezy Center.  The rooms will be open at times that do not conflict with an organized MAAO event and until 1:00 am.

AGENDA

 

Sunday, September 23rd

 

Noon

Golf Outing

2:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Conference Registration - Front Desk Lobby

3:00 pm

Executive Board - Governor's Room

6:00 pm

Opening Reception - Cookout on the Deck, Dockside Deck Bar

Monday, September 24th

 

8:00 am - Noon

Registration - Whitebirch Lobby

9:00 am - Noon

Commissioner of Revenue Meeting - Whitebirch

Noon - 1:00 pm

Lunch Buffet - Marina II Restaurant

1:00 pm - 3:30 pm

MAAO Annual Meeting - Whitebirch

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Golf, fishing contest, boating

Evening

Use your ticket to eat dinner anytime off menu up to 9:30 pm - Marina II Restaurant

Tuesday, September 25th

 

7:30 am

Past Presidents Breakfast - Marina II Restaurant

9:00 am - Noon

MAAO Annual Meeting - Whitebirch

Noon - 1:00 pm

Lunch Buffet - Marina II Restaurant

1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Educational Seminars

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Reception - Dockside

7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Annual Banquet - Lakeside Ballroom

8:30 pm

Awards and Presentations

After Awards

Dockside Entertainment

Wednesday, September 26th

 

8:00 - Noon

Educational Seminars

Educational Seminars
Choose One 4-hour Seminar (Tuesday OR Wednesday)
OR
Choose Two 4-hour Seminars (Tuesday AND Wednesday)
OR
One 8-hour seminar

FS1: Minnesota Tax Court - A Roundtable Discussion (4 hours) Tuesday, 1:00 - 5:00 - Members of the Commercial/Industrial Committee. Come prepared to discuss the pressing assessment issues of the day relative to MN Tax Court. Assessors always have issues and 2012 is no different.  This seminar will be a moderated discussion with 3-5 assessors discussing recent cases, experience at trial, motions, and decisions by the court. Recent cases have touched on areas including homestead, qualifying ag  property, highest and best use, treatment of expenses in an income approach, mistakenly billed taxes, when is  small still ag, retail valuation, and value of 4d property.  Audience participation will be encouraged, so if you have a case or an issue you wish to discuss or share, get something down on paper, make 40 copies, and bring it to the seminar!
FS2: Hot Management Topics for Assessors (4 hours) Tuesday, 1:00 - 5:00 - This seminar will address three different management issues and will provide various techniques and methods that will assist you in becoming a more effective manager.

Social Media and Your Jurisdiction:  What You Need to Know
Rebecca L. Malmquist, CAE, SAMA, City of Minnetonka Assessor. How many friends do you have on Facebook?  Do you Tweet?  Are you LinkedIn?  This presentation covers issues that are currently shaping views on social media as it relates to the workplace.  Take away the foundations you need to make informed choices about social media.  It will cover key points, legal aspects, and resources for developing a social media policy as wells as discuss best practices in social media use to avoid potential conflicts with an employer.

Organizational Trust
Matthew J. Gersemehl, SAMA, City of Bloomington Assessor. Having trust in an organization is critical as jurisdictions are being financially forced to do more with less.  When there is a lack of trust, production decreases and attitudes suffer.  Learn how to increase the trust level in your organization and get more done with less.

Using Feedback to Enhance Organizational Success
Bob Wilson, CAE, ASA, City of Edina Assessor.  Have you ever wished you were more adept at giving immediate feedback both reinforcing and corrective? This section focuses on competencies needed for feedback, the critical elements of effective exchanges, and the variety of communication styles you can encounter.
FS3: Elements of Lakeshore Valuation (4 hours) Tuesday, 1:00 - 5:00 - Gary Griffin, SAMA, Crow Wing County Assessor & staff. The objective of this seminar is demonstration of the different variables that contribute to lakeshore value: shoreline types and quality adjustments and quantity or excess lake frontage adjustments.  There will be examples of lakeshore valuation by extraction, use of aerials and Geographic Information System (GIS) for access, footage and shore quality.  The seminar participants will view some of the properties and locations on beautiful Pelican Lake aboard the historic Breezy Belle.
FS4: Reviewing Residential Appraisal Reports (8 hours) Tuesday, 1:00 - 5:00, and Wednesday, 8:00 - 12:00 - Susanne Barkalow, IFA.  The objectives of this course are to: Categorize reviewers and reasons for reviews, understand the need for quality control, understand which parts of USPAP apply to reviews, apply topics discussed in the Dissecting book to appraisal practice, why/how assessors review appraisal reports, discuss how to evaluate the Neighborhood and Sales Comparison grid in a review, evaluate a residential appraisal report and complete a residential review.
FS5: Trust/Life Estates (4 hours) Wednesday, 8:00 - 12:00 - MN Department of Revenue.  This seminar is designed for individuals who work regularly with agricultural homesteads and special agricultural homesteads. Topics will include agricultural homesteads, including entity-owned homesteads. There will also be an emphasis on trust homestead administration and various real-world examples.
 FS6: GIS is for Everyone (4 hours) Wednesday, 8:00 - 12:00 - Josh Schoen, GIS & Property Tax Supervisor, Rice County Assessor's Office & Chad Martini, GIS Coordinator, Stearns County.  Think you don’t need GIS in your office?  Don’t think you can afford a GIS program?  These two GIS professionals will show that any office can benefit and be more efficient with a GIS program.  This course will cover why GIS should be used by assessors, the basics of parcel mapping, GIS integration with other systems, Pictometry, finding free and useful GIS data, and an instruction on how to input CPI (Crop Productivity Index) data into a GIS system, and much more.  This course will include real life examples of how GIS is being used in both instructors’ counties.
Continuing Education Hours (CEH).  The State Board of Assessors will grant 4 CEH's for one four hour seminar, 8 CEH's for two four hour seminars, and 8 CEH's for one eight hour seminar. There are no Commerce Credits applied for.
Questions??? Paul Knutson, MAAO Conference Coordinator at 507-332-6152, [email protected].

Tami Paulson, MAAO Assistant Conference Coordinator at 507-328-7668,
[email protected]

Registration questions, Lori Schwendemann, MAAO Online Administrator, 320-598-3187,
[email protected]