Commissioner presses staff on $6.4M shifting from exempt to taxable and whether it counts as state —new growth—

Commissioner Bierke pressed county staff about a line on valuation worksheets listing $6,432,475 moving from exempt to taxable in Grand Forks City and asked whether that figure would be treated as "new growth" under state levy-cap rules. He said, "Since it's coming from 0 to now it's being taxed... in the world of the state, what is that?" and asked staff to research the classification.

Finance staff acknowledged that changes from exempt to taxable commonly arise from expired exemptions or changes in ownership and that, under state rules, expired property tax exemptions can count as new growth. A county staff member told the board later in the meeting, "Expired property tax exemptions... when they expire, they can count towards new growth." Commissioners asked staff to follow up in the five weeks before final levy action to identify which properties are involved and whether they can be excluded from the county's cap calculation.

Why it matters: whether exempt-to-taxable values are counted as new growth affects the county's ability to levy and could require adjustments to the net levy or reclassification of items in the proposed budget. Staff agreed to return with a precise accounting so commissioners can determine if adjustments are needed before the formal levy recommendation at the 4:00 meeting.

Next steps: staff will report back with a list of affected parcels and the applicable growth classification; commissioners flagged this as a priority to avoid unexpected cap impacts.