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County shifts New Salem lots affected by abandoned-mine voids to agricultural valuation
Summary
After drilling by the state’s abandoned mine program found voids near several New Salem parcels, Morton County reduced assessed values by treating at-risk vacant lots as agricultural for 2025.
Morton County commissioners on June 10 approved lowering assessed values and changing valuation treatment for several New Salem parcels after the state’s abandoned-mine reclamation program identified mine voids beneath or near those lots.
Why it matters: The change reduces taxable values for affected parcels that the Public Service Commission advised are undermined and where the commission recommended against building without exploratory drilling and remediation. For owners, the county’s action reduces immediate property-tax liability while leaving zoning unchanged.
Property owner Mitchell Earhart told the board his plan to build on a 4.12‑acre lot at 1201 Ash Avenue in New Salem was halted after successive exploratory drill holes found a void beneath a proposed house site. Earhart explained he had paid for initial drilling and the Public Service Commission (PSC) later conducted further testing that showed multiple voids in the area and advised against building without remedial work.
“Because of presence of known mining in the area…we recommend you conduct exploratory drilling adjacent … to determine whether building site is undermined prior to any construction,” a PSC official told Earhart and county staff, and the PSC’s 2024–25 drilling maps showed voids at locations near the parcel.
County staff recommended — and the commission approved — keeping the parcels’ zoning as residential but returning the assessment method to agricultural values for tax year 2025. For Earhart’s parcel, the change reduced the assessed value from the residential figure to an agricultural assessment of $2,200 for 2025, a drop of $34,900 from the residential assessment on the roll. Two additional adjacent parcels owned by another resident received the same agricultural treatment (each at $1,100), producing a combined reduction of $69,400 for the two lots, also moved to agricultural valuation.
County staff said the PSC’s priority is public infrastructure and existing structures; remediation of non‑developed lots sits low on the commission’s priority list. The county’s change does not alter city zoning; it adjusts only assessment and tax treatment for the current roll.
Ending: The commission recorded the valuation changes and told owners they may seek further remedies or request drilling/remediation if they want to pursue building in the future.
