Majority of ND Counties Lowering Property Taxes According to ND Tax Dept. Report

A large majority of counties are collecting less from taxpayers in 2018. That was the statement NDACo’s Government Affairs Specialist, Donnell Preskey, provided to the interim Taxation Committee during their recent meeting. The committee is studying the property tax system. They dedicated several hours to take an in-depth look at how property taxes have increased or decreased since 2015.

“The volume of counties that are showing double digit decreases in levies should be reassuring to legislators that our counties are good stewards of taxpayer’s dollars,” said Preskey. “The state funds used to relieve the local tax burden of paying for county social services had a positive impact on taxpayers across the state.”

The North Dakota Tax Department provided a report to committee members that highlighted property tax mill levy information for tax years 2015, 2016 and 2017 for counties, cities, schools and parks. The information excluded new growth. Less than half of the 50 largest cities, schools and park districts in the state reduced property taxes.

Preskey said, “Forty-seven of the 53 counties did what you, the legislature, expected of them, lowering levies which decreased what they collected from taxpayers in 2017.”

NDACo was asked to provide information on counties who had the most dramatic increases or decreases in property tax collections. It is evident that each county has a unique mix of revenues that vary from year to year, and their ability to manage those reserves can be impacted greatly by a natural disaster, a rare facility construction, or, in a small county, something as minor as a couple lengthy incarcerations. Clearly, the volatility of energy revenues for western counties and the impact of state aid for the smaller counties are the largest and most commonly cited factors for counties that are outliers either to the positive or negative.  Click here to view NDACo analysis of county "outliers"

 

NDACo was also asked to provide information to the committee regarding counties use of social media. This request was in response to a prior committee discussion suggesting a bill be drafted to “require political subdivisions that have a Facebook page to post on the Facebook page any assessment or budget notices required to be published in the newspaper. This would be in addition to the requirement to publish notices in the newspaper.”

Preskey acknowledged the value of using social media in communicating with citizens but recognized how singling out one social media platform and naming it in code could be dangerous with how fast the social media world and applications are changing.

 

In addition, while 47 of our 53 counties have a Facebook page, these pages are managed by various county departments. For example, many counties have an emergency management Facebook page or a sheriff’s department page, but not a general county Facebook page.  In some cases, counties have multiple Facebook pages for specific departments.  Click here to see a list of counties social media platforms.

 

“We would oppose such a proposal as a requirement. More than likely, if a county has a Facebook page, they are using it already as a resource to reach their citizens. There is no need to make this a mandate,” Preskey testified.

 

The interim Judiciary Committee is studying notice requirements with the intent of reducing some of the notices, this proposal would be a move in the opposite direction. NDACo provided that committee with a list of 142 various notices, documents and listings which counties are required to publish as mandated by state law and identified five areas worth review.  Chairman Hogue has drafted a bill that would eliminate some notice requirements or allow for them to be completed in another manner such as posted on county websites. The committee reviewed the bill draft in April but did not take action.