Cavalier County delays drain assessments after tax-list errors; Water Board, attorney asked to attend next meeting

Tax Director Stephanie Bata told the Cavalier County Board of Commissioners on June 4 that lists of parcel assessments submitted by the county Water Board contain numerous unresolved errors and unclear combines, prompting the board to defer placing drain assessments on this year’s tax statements.

The move means residents will not see the contested drain assessments on their 2024 tax bills while the county and Water Board work to correct the records. Bata said she is unsure about the list of parcels for combined drains and identified continuing mistakes that had been reported to the Water Board last fall but were not fixed.

Commissioners voted to withhold the drain assessments from the tax statements for 2024 and directed the Water Board and the board’s attorney, Quentin Wenzel, to attend the next commission meeting to explain and resolve the discrepancies. Shauna Schneider later joined the meeting to show a map of small drains around Mulberry Creek she created; Schneider pointed to drains on the map that appear to have duplicate assessments.

The board’s action is procedural: it pauses collection of the disputed assessments while staff and the Water Board clarify which parcels are properly assessed and how combined-drain parcels should be listed. The transcript does not record a dollar total for the assessments or specify which parcels beyond the combined-drain list will be affected.

The commission did not make substantive decisions about reassessment methods at the June 4 meeting; commissioners only directed follow-up attendance by Water Board representatives and counsel. The matter will return to the agenda after the Water Board and its attorney respond to the board’s request for corrections and clarification.