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Cass County assessor: state law will require assessment notices to most property owners, raising mailing costs
Summary
Cass County’s assessor said recent state legislation requires assessors to send assessment notices to property owners and primary-residence credit notices, a change that could increase the office’s mailing costs from about $8,000 to an estimated $90,000 and require roughly 70,000 notices countywide.
The Cass County assessor (name not specified in the public record of this meeting) told the Board of Commissioners that changes in state law now require assessors to send notification of assessments to property owners after Feb. 1 of the assessing year and to send notice of approval or disapproval of the primary residence credit.
The assessor said the change effectively replaces the prior “notice of increase” process and will expand the number of mailings countywide. Staff provided a preliminary estimate, based on a countywide mail quote, of about $90,000 for the additional mailing workload; the assessor contrasted that with the office’s prior mailing budget of roughly $8,000. The assessor said the county’s property‑owner count for these notices is about 70,000 and that Fargo and West Fargo — which have their own assessing departments — are likely to issue their own notices.
County staff said they will seek clarification from the tax commissioner's office on whether the statutory language requires paper mailings or allows electronic delivery. The assessor said the tax‑credit notice language is written as a “notification” and does not explicitly say it must be mailed, and that the office will pursue guidance and, if allowed, pursue electronic options to contain costs.
The assessor reported other operational items: reopening recruitment for a vacant office position after unsuccessful interviews, finalizing appeals and closing the 2025 assessing year, and coordinating with finance on mill‑levy and new‑growth calculations that will affect the 2026 budget process.
Staff also reviewed property‑tax deadlines: a foreclosure list now contains 153 properties that have three years of delinquent taxes; owners have until Oct. 1 to cure the oldest year to be removed from the foreclosure list, and the county sheriff’s sale is scheduled for Nov. 18. Second‑installment property taxes are due Oct. 15; the assessor’s office said a 6% penalty will be applied after that date.
On primary residence credit (PRC) changes, staff said the credit amount rose to $1,600 for the 2025 year (from $500) and that retroactive PRC claims for 2024 are being processed: the county expects a state payment by mid‑June and anticipates issuing refunds to roughly 300 residents once funds are received.
The assessor said staff will work with the county’s software vendor and with BSI (address-matching/data vendor mentioned by staff) to implement new notice generation and parcel/address matching required by the statutory changes; staff noted the property‑tax cap (3%) implementation guidance will be the subject of a June 16 NDACO information session and that consistent statewide calculation methodology is a priority.
