Cass County commissioners uphold assessor on County Road 20 industrial valuations after lengthy appeal

The Cass County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday upheld the assessor’s recommended valuations for multiple industrial properties on County Road 20 after a prolonged appeal and public comment from the property owner’s representative.

Kurt Bowman, chief financial officer for County 20 Storage and Transfer, told commissioners his company owns nine buildings totaling roughly one million square feet and that the firm is contesting assessments on several older steel warehouses. Bowman said two new 196,000-square-foot buildings are being built in 2024–25 and that his construction cost for a new building was $51.70 per square foot. He said assessments for some older buildings are now $20 or more per square foot higher than nearby new or recently built structures and that the company’s rents do not justify the higher valuations. “All I’m asking for is that we work in real dollars and not imaginary dollars simply to raise taxes for the city of Fargo,” Bowman said.

Mike Splinskas, City of Fargo assessor, presented staff’s review and told commissioners the county’s sale-ratio studies show industrial properties have been under-assessed—generally valued at 80–90% of market—and that the assessor’s office is moving toward values that fall between 90% and 100% of market. Splinskas also said staff’s comparable-sales set mainly included Class S (metal/steel) warehouses and that the comparables had been adjusted downward to account for age, size, land value and paving. He said site improvements were included in market value calculations and that some of the appellant’s submission omitted required site-improvement costs.

Bowman challenged the comparables staff used and said several of the assessor’s comparables appeared to be concrete tilt-up or poured-concrete buildings rather than steel warehouses, or were sales between related entities, which he said limited their usefulness. He asked the commission to consider actual dollars the company spent on construction and to avoid assessing older properties at higher per-square-foot values than new buildings across the street.

After discussion, a commissioner moved to approve the assessor’s suggested motion (that staff-recommended valuations be upheld). The board voted to approve the motion; roll call showed affirmative votes from Commissioners Breitling, Bethel, Grinberg, Capitan and Flacknell. The motion carried.

The record at the hearing shows staff notes that site-improvement costs of roughly $1.6 million were included in the market valuation for the contested sites and that, per North Dakota Century Code, on-site improvements must be valued. Bowman said the annual additional tax at issue on several properties was under $10,000 for five of the contested parcels, with one larger parcel yielding an estimated $48,000 a year in disputed taxes.

No additional evidence was taken at the meeting; the commission accepted the assessor’s recommended valuations and denied the abatements as requested by the appellant.