Building boom helps drive property valuations, assessor says - North Dakota
04-01-2014
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Many more Grand Forks residents received notices of increased property value this year.
By: Charly Haley, Forum News Service
GRAND FORKS, N.D Many more Grand Forks residents received notices of increased property value this year.In a “normal” year, about 800 to 1,000 notices are sent out by the city, but this year, there were more than 1,600, said John Herz, city assessor.The notices indicate that a property’s value has increased by at least $3,000 and 10 percent or more.The city assessing office is careful to note that increased property value does not necessarily mean property taxes will increase, Herz said. The taxes will only increase if local government entities do not lower the mill rate, or the rate at which property is taxed, according to the property value increase, he said.Some reasons for sharp property value increases are remodeling exemptions expiring or if a property hasn’t been revalued in a while — but the main factor that seems to have caused this year’s jump in property values is the boom of new development in Grand Forks, Herz said.“We’ve built a lot of new homes, we’ve annexed a lot of property, therefore the number (of of property increase notices) was higher this year than last year,” he said. Last year there were about 850 to 860 notices sent out.
Assessing
People may be confused about how their property value is calculated, because Herz doesn’t visit every house in Grand Forks each year.The assessor’s staff does knock on a lot of doors, Herz said, but they also analyze the housing and property market, consider properties that must be of similar value basepd on previous assessments, and sometimes they are able to do an exterior review of a home.“We can’t get into every house every year,” Herz said. So each year his office chooses a portion of town to assess, he said, and this year it was the Riverside Park area, north of Gateway Drive.But along with that area in north Grand Forks, there were many properties in south Grand Forks, especially south of 47th Avenue South and east of South Washington Street, that had to be assessed because all new properties are assessed, Herz said.“We try to look at every new house that is built, and every new commercial building, every new apartment building,” he said. “We will knock on the door for every property that had a building permit issued.” There were about 1,500 building permits issued last year.With so many property values increasing this year, Herz said he expects the city’s value as a whole to increase substantially, probably more than the about 3 to 5 percent increases in the past few years. Herz’ office has not yet completed its calculation of the increase in property value for the city as a whole, he said.
Property taxes
Some people worry that when their home value increases, their property taxes will increase, “but the property taxes depend on the mill rate,” Herz said.For the city’s portion of property taxes, council member Bret Weber said, “the city is always looking at those issues,” and will look for ways to cut the mill rate if extra tax dollars are not needed.But since much of the additional property value revenue comes from new properties, “the cost of being a city goes up,” as the city grows, he said.Grand Forks County commissioner Cynthia Pic expressed a similar opinion about how the county commission will look the mill rate.“When we meet to look at the budget, we really take a look at (the increase in property values),” Pic said. “We have to balance the (cost of) services provided by the county while making sure property taxes aren’t going up too much.”Both Herz and Weber said having property values increase in Grand Forks is much better than the alternative.“Property values are either going to go up or they’re going to go down, and it’s far better for them to go up than to go down,” Weber said.If anyone received a letter about the increase of their property value and they think it was miscalculated, Herz said they should call his office at (701) 746-2611.