State approves Minneapolis property tax relief for properties damaged during civil unrest

On Tuesday, the city of Minneapolis announced the state of Minnesota approved requests by the city and Hennepin County for property tax relief for properties damaged during the civil unrest this summer.

Following the unrest that erupted after the death of George Floyd on May 25, the city’s Assessor’s Office began reviewing more than 900 properties in Minneapolis that were reported to have potential damage from the civil unrest and determined there was more than $106 million in reassessed value lost as a result of the damage.

The amount of property tax relief for those impacted is estimated at more than $1.7 million for this year. According to the city, of that, the state will be reimbursing Minneapolis and other local taxing authorities $1.3 million.

Assessment officials have determined that just over 600 of the 900 properties reviewed sustained some level of damage and approximately 75 sustained significant damage or were destroyed during the unrest and are eligible for tax relief.

"Our Minneapolis businesses are resilient and innovative, and measures like this property tax relief will be important to helping those impacted by the civil unrest recover and emerge stronger than before," said Mayor Jacob Frey. "This was a true team effort with our City staff advocating tirelessly on behalf of our businesses and workers and our state partners stepping up in a major way."

Types of damage to the properties include graffiti, broken windows, structure damage due to forced entry, fire and water. While the damage was primarily along Lake Street, the city said there was damage reported across Minneapolis.

Hennepin County notified property owners that qualify for the tax abatement that they were not expected to make the Oct. 15 second half property taxes. The county will recalculate the taxes using the city assessor’s reassessed value and issue a new property tax statement. If the recalculation results in a tax bill being overpaid, a refund will be issued. If there is a remaining second half tax owed, property owners will have 21 days to pay the remaining amount to be considered timely, the city said.

"This property tax relief will provide crucial support to businesses impacted by the social unrest that followed George Floyd’s death," said Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender. "We are grateful to the local and state officials who helped with this relief for our small and local businesses as we work together on a spectrum of supports for rebuilding."