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Park board examines lake-lease sale, warns of tax-roll timing risks
Summary
Steele County Park Board members discussed Game and Fish’s plan to sell lease lots to a private buyer, the timing of lease notices and the risk of missing tax-roll deadlines if parcels aren’t recorded by April. Board members agreed to delay sending leases for another month pending clarity.
Steele County Park Board members spent much of their meeting on Feb. 3 discussing the North Dakota Game and Fish plan to sell park lease lots to a private buyer and the potential tax implications for leaseholders.
Ed, speaking for the board, said residents were largely supportive of the sale but noted one attendee believed they had a "100-year lease," which the board said does not exist. Board members said the sale had been approved by the attorney general and only required the governor’s signature. According to the staff account, Bill Hos of North Dakota Game and Fish told board members: "We're going to have this thing all done in by the 1 of June." The board therefore debated whether to send lease notices now or wait until the sale is finalized.
The board and county staff raised a tax-timing concern: if parcels are not placed on the tax roll before April, the county could lose a full year of tax revenue. Casey, the county tax director, warned that changes after April typically cannot be applied until the following tax year and that some parcels could miss tax assessments for a year or more.
Board members also discussed practical issues that could slow the transition, including the need for accurate surveys, how parcels would be split if the land is sold as four parcels, and who would pay survey costs. Members noted that survey pins and parcel records are incomplete and that buyers who purchase lots will become responsible for land taxes once the deeds are recorded.
Given the timing uncertainty, the board agreed to delay sending lease renewal paperwork for about a month to see whether the governor signs off and how the sale process proceeds. The board also discussed cancelling some park expenses that are likely to transfer to the new owner, including waste pickup and some security-light electricity costs, but decided those operational changes depend on the timing of the sale.
The board tabled approval of 2026 lease amounts and will revisit the issue once the sale status is clearer.
