ASSESSOR'S DUTIES

North Dakota law requires the McLean County Assessors to uniformly and fairly value all parcels of land and buildings for tax purposes.

This is an ongoing process that consists of gathering and reviewing information on properties through field inspections, measuring and listing new construction and analyzing market sales to determine fair values for existing and new construction properties. Some McLean County jurisdictions use a Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal system to help fairly arrive at a true and full value for each property. Each year, a sales ratio is conducted to determine how close the assessor's values compare to sales and how equitable various types of property are being valued.

All real property subject to taxation is assessed as of February 1st of each year. Any increase of assessment more than 10% in value requires a notice of increase in assessment to be sent to the property owner.

Property taxes are determined by our elected officials (city & county commissioners, school & park board members, etc.) setting their budgets. That is what determines the total amount of property tax to be paid in any given year in the county of McLean.