Star Tribune
Is Minneapolis woman entitled to proceeds from sale of her condo for back taxes?
The nation’s highest court Wednesday considered the case of an elderly Minneapolis woman whose condo was seized and sold by Hennepin County for unpaid taxes — and whether she’s entitled to any money from that sale.
Minnesota is among 20 states that allow the government to sell a property forfeited because of unpaid taxes and keep all the proceeds, even if it’s more than what was owed.
That’s what happened to Geraldine Tyler in 2015, when she owed $15,000 in back taxes, interests and fees on her Minneapolis condo dating back at least five years.
Hennepin County sold the condo for $40,000. Tyler, now 94, has the backing of a national legal group that not only wants her to get the extra $25,000, but seeks to change the way such government seizures work. On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case.
In discussions that featured historical detours from the feudal laws of the 1200s to the Magna Carta to the founding of America, a trio of lawyers and the justices tussled over the fairness and legality of the issue, which is related to at least two other cases before the court.
Tyler bought her condo in 1999. In 2010, she moved into an apartment and stopped paying taxes on her condo, prompting the county to try to collect the taxes and ultimately seize it.
According to the county, Tyler walked away from the condo, telling them she had no interest in keeping it, and she never tried to sell it. She could have sold the place and used that money to pay her taxes, refinanced her mortgage or worked out a payment plan, the county’s lawyer argued.
Through her attorney, Tyler declined to comment.
Tyler’s attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation Senior Attorney Christina Martin, argued that none of that matters because the government only has a right to the money she owed to them. Other types of property, such as seized cars or boats, aren’t handled that way, Martin argued, and by keeping the extra money, Hennepin County violated constitutional protections against uncompensated takings and excessive fines.
An attorney representing the county pro bono, former acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal, argued that practices like Minnesota’s have existed since the nation was founded, and it’s up to each state how to handle real estate forfeitures.
A ruling in favor of Tyler could have ramifications for the states that handle real estate forfeitures like Minnesota, although several justices wondered aloud if there were ways they could rule that might not have such sweeping effects.
Lower courts sided with the county before the justices agreed to step in.
Minnesota and a handful of states and government associations are backing the county, warning that a Supreme Court ruling could tie the hands of local governments that rely on property taxes.
But the bulk of support in court filings is with Tyler, including AARP, business groups, real estate interests and other people who have gone through experiences similar to hers.
A Massachusetts man described his ongoing fight with authorities over a tax bill of $900 on a property he says is worth at least $330,000 in a beach town on Cape Cod Bay. In a filing from New York, property tax attorney David Wilkes and legal services groups wrote that New York’s rules “excessively takes far more than what is due to the government and go well beyond an appropriate deterrent to those homeowners who would ignore a tax delinquency.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Check back with StarTribune.com for updates.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
The school said in its lawsuit that both Hugo and May Township consider the land rural residential zoning, and that the codes identify a school as a conditional use. Hugo officials have generally supported the LCA plan, granting a building permit in 2022 that allowed LCA to invest $2.1 million into the former Withrow school for renovations.
The school said in its lawsuit that the existing septic system is failing and needs to be replaced, regardless of expansion plans.
The school said it notified neighbors of the property in 2022 and again in 2023 about its land purchase. About 50 residents in total attended those meetings, and just two expressed concerns over the issues of traffic and lights, according to the suit. The school met with the May Township board in May of 2023, and minutes from that meeting show that the board had no concerns beyond lighting at the time, according to the suit. The board asked if the school could use “down lighting” for its athletic fields and the school said it would.
In June, Hugo City Council approved a conditional use permit for the school, but the May Township board voted to extend the decision deadline to early August.
The suit says it was at a subsequent meeting in July that May Town Board Chairman John Pazlar objected to the plan for the first time, saying “the main concern, based on public comment, is to keep Town of May rural.”
The school said its plans for the May Township portion of its property had been submitted eight months prior to the July meeting, and that its plans met requirements of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings