Property Tax, Records & Election Services
Property Tax, Records & Election Services is proud of its history as one of Ramsey County's founding offices. Since 1849, Property Tax, Records & Elections Services has overseen the services of property ownership recording, treasurer and auditor functions overseeing the collection, as well as balancing and settlement of all monies collected by the county. Property Tax, Records & Elections Services is located in the Plato Building.
The following are the major work areas and their mission statements.
Elections
Ramsey County Elections administers state and county elections and performs elections duties for:
- The cities of Arden Hills, Falcon Heights, Gem Lake, Roseville, Lauderdale, Little Canada, Mounds View, New Brighton, North Oaks, North St. Paul, St. Anthony, Saint Paul, Vadnais Heights, White Bear Lake, and White Bear Township.
- Five school districts (Saint Paul, Roseville, Mounds View, St. Anthony and White Bear Lake).
Our mission is to administer elections in Ramsey County in a fair, honest, impartial, accurate and efficient manner.
Examiner of Titles
The Examiner of Titles and deputy examiners are attorneys appointed by district court judges to perform the judicial, administrative and legal adviser duties specified in the Minnesota Land Registration Act, also known as the Torrens Act, in accordance with the Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 508.
Property Tax Services
Property Tax Services is primarily a customer service division consisting of five main sections:
- Payments processing, delinquent tax processing and public information services are committed to providing accurate and timely information, collecting and processing all property taxes and miscellaneous county fees, managing delinquent tax accounts and maintaining taxation records.
- Tax-forfeited land directs the county’s tax-forfeited lands program according to established county policies and state laws so that forfeited property is either managed in public trust by tax-forfeited lands, returned to the tax rolls by allowing a repurchase by the prior owner, sold at public auction or sold to a government agency through a purchase or use deed application.
- The licensing section issues the following licenses for the county: auctioneers - resident and non-resident; precious metal dealer and transient merchants.
- Local government policy and research’s mission is to provide quality service and information pertaining to property ownership, valuation, revenue, and record maintenance in accordance with laws and regulations. The tax accounting team provides necessary and complete taxation, accounting, auditing, tax billing, tax distribution and reporting services as required by Minnesota Statutes and our diverse internal and external customer base.
- The policy and research section involves several areas that interact heavily with other governmental units: property taxes, economic development and tax legislation. The section analyzes the impact of proposed and enacted tax legislation on units of government in Ramsey County to produce timely and comprehensive reports on topical issues in government finance, property taxes, economic development and governance that can be used by policymakers.
Recorder's Office
The Recorder's Office mission is to preserve land title records for all real property in Ramsey County. This office permanently records, indexes and preserves more than 100 types of documents on microfilm or an electronic format for future reference and use. It also provides property ownership and encumbrance information as needed and requested by land title businesses, the mortgage industry and the public.
Vital Records
The Ramsey County Vital Records Office maintains and issues a variety of legal documents including birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, divorce records and more.