00:00:16,670	Good evening and welcome. This is the meeting of the Board of Equalization at City Commission April 7th, 2026. We are at the Ed Bosch Freilich Meeting Room. Mr. Neubauer. Would you like to take roll call, please? Certainly. Commissioners. Roar here. Schulberg. Here. Ron. Yes? Hi, John. Here, mayor Freilich.

00:00:47,130	I am here at this time. We will have city assessor Kim Markley will present the 2026 annual report. Kimberly. Good evening, Mayor and commissioners. If we could bring up the presentation. Thank you. Tonight, um, we’ll go through our 2026 annual report. This is a summary of the evaluations.

00:01:19,600	Summary of the assessment department activities in 2025, and any changes in value at the local, county or state board. May affect our final value. So assessment procedures. So first of all, the century code dictates that the assessors must value property at the full and true value.

00:01:44,270	As of February 1st of 2026, the North Dakota Board of Equalization requires that overall, our value must be in must be within 90 to 100% of the full and true value. Um, with the increases that we’ve made this this year for 2026, our properties are right at around 93%, just slightly under that. So for assessments, we have guidance that’s provided through Century Code.

00:02:10,030	The North Dakota Tax Commissioner’s Office, and we use the recognized standards of mass appraisal of real property. So when you’re appraising real property, there’s three approaches. The sales approach which uses similar properties to determine value. The cost approach is the land value and the depreciated cost of improvements. Income approach estimates the present value of future benefits.

00:02:36,000	The majority of our properties we’re using the sales approach. So in the city of Mandan we have 9507 parcels. As you can see, most of those are residential, just slightly over 7000 are residential, a little bit over 1100 are commercial. Then we have 1300 vacant lots and a whole 13 eg parcels.

00:02:59,530	So breaking down the appraised value by class, 62% of the value is residential, 26 is commercial and vacant lots and 12% exempt. And then less than 1% is the ag value. Um, this report that I’m showing here on this slide in the next one, this is called our sales ratio report.

00:03:23,000	This is what the state uses to determine if we’re in that 90 to 100% tolerance. And this is the formula and the report that they use. And they’re assuring that the market values are adjusted without the exemptions and new construction. So on this section of the worksheet, it’s accounting for the changes between 25 and 26.

00:03:48,670	This section is showing you that before adjustments, our sales ratio was not within that 90 to 100% tolerance. As you can see at the top row. It’s showing we’re under that 90%. So after we adjusted values then we’re intolerance. We both, like I said, just right, right right below 93%.

00:04:13,970	So our total increase for 2026, our total valuation excuse me is $3.2 billion. This is an increase of $210 million, or about a nine point or excuse me, 6.9% increase from 2025. Of that increase, 36 million was new construction on the residential side of it, there was 249 sales that took place in 2025, and those sales were used to determine the 2026 valuation.

00:04:44,130	So overall residential values increased 138 million, or about 6.5%, um, of that, that’s new construction, remodeling exemptions expiring. Our zone review, all those kinds of things. And the average market increase of that increase was 5%.

00:05:17,270	Um, this in 2025, we reviewed the residential lot values and the areas that we, um, our normal rotation review, that’s when we actually send out the letters and we physically go review properties. So we were working in zone three and four. And then on our map you can see where that is located. On the commercial side of things, we had 32 sales that took place and 2025.

00:05:40,270	Um, and those values are those sales were used to determine the 2026 valuation. So overall, the commercial increased 72 million or 8%. Again, new construction, remodeling, etc. the average market increase was 7.3. And then there were several areas that we reviewed physically this last year, and I’ve showed those areas here.

00:06:09,100	So a big change that we had for 2026, um, during the 2025 legislative session, the Century code was updated. So this year, um, it requires that we give written notice of the amount of the true and value of each parcel of taxable property, and that included the current and the previous year’s values.

00:06:32,530	So all those parcels received a notice previously before this law change. They we issued notices of increase. And that was your only sent a notice. If your value increased $3,000 or more and 10% or more. So that’s a huge change in what we’ve done for notices.

00:06:58,200	So again, instead of a notice of increase, everybody that’s taxable gets um, a notice of their value. So there are a lot of paper cuts involved. So with that change in 2025 we sent out 743 notices of increase.

00:07:26,070	Now this year in 2026, with the notice of real estate assessments, um, we sent over almost 7300 property owners received a notice, and there’s more than one parcel on some of those. So if you had 20 parcels, then you would get more than one of them on a sheet. So in order to try to notify the public of this notice change, there was an article in the Mandan Messenger. Um, I shared the announcement during one of the commission meetings.

00:07:46,330	Um, there was an announcement post posted on the city website. Um, there was a notice on Facebook and also a bulk email was sent out to the people that subscribed to those emails. So when we talk about exemptions, there’s a couple different types of exemptions. We have non-discretionary exemptions, which are exemptions that are required by law.

00:08:15,100	So example hospital cemeteries public schools, city owned property, um non-profit organizations, blind exemption, wheelchair exemptions and churches are examples of those. And then the discretionary exemptions are ones that the local board, which would be the city commission. Um, grants at their discretion. So in the city of Mandan, we have the residential new construction.

00:08:46,130	We have Renaissance Zone commercial and residential remodeling exemptions, new and expanding business. And we have one payment in lieu of taxes. So there’s a total of 35 of those exemptions. So breaking those down, the non-discretionary exemptions, the ones that are state law, there are about 3.5% of our total value. The non-discretionary ones are about 7.6% of the total value.

00:09:15,370	And then the discretionary ones are less than 1%. Excuse me, I just need to get a drink. Um, on the side of the reimbursement credits, those are property tax relief programs for people in the state. Reimburses us for those. The first one is the homestead tax credit.

00:09:43,800	And to be eligible for that, it’s, um, you need to be 65 years or older or permanently and totally disabled your income less. You’re out of pocket. Medical expenses needs to be under 70,000. So in 2025, we had almost 700 applications for the homestead credit.

00:10:03,930	Um, as of last week, we have processed 518 of those. The disabled veterans credit, um, is for veterans or surviving spouses with a disability of 50% or greater. And for 2025, we had 220 participants. And so far we have processed 178 applications. Um, the primary residence card, that’s the one you’re seeing a lot of advertising in the last few months on that.

00:10:35,670	So to be eligible for that credit, you must own your home in North Dakota and reside in it as your primary residence. So for 2025, we had 4887 properties that received the primary residence credit. So the total of that credit was 7.5. Million dollars. And those were the $1,600 the year before.

00:11:01,600	There was $2.3 million. And that’s when the credit was only $500. Um, these credits will be paid that amount, that of those credits will be paid to Morgan County by May 31st, and then the county auditor apportioned that to the different task taxing districts like the school, the city water district.

00:11:25,630	Um, if you have any questions for me, I can entertain those at this time. Uh, Kim, I’m really appreciative for all you and your team do here. I’ve got to admit that I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to this stuff.

00:11:59,800	So the 3% property tax, uh, initiative passed by the 2025 legislative group does not weigh in on this at all. The 3% does not apply to assessment values. That applies on the mill levy end. So the taxes that are collected by your different taxing entities, that’s where that 3% cap is applied. So it’s not the individual parcels. It’s citywide and it’s applied at the when we’re developing our levies.

00:12:25,370	Okay. And the timing of the letters, um, in my particular scenario, I just remember getting one, you know, like in August to October or something. But the new letter came as a somewhat of a surprise. Yeah. So there’s a there’s a couple different things that changed.

00:12:59,600	Um, with that, that bill that was passed in 2025, the letter that you get in August used to be an estimated property tax. And it also gave you the information on the budget hearings that has been changed to just a budget hearing notice. So you have that notice in August.

00:13:22,470	You get your tax bill in December, and then in the spring right before equalization, like in March, we send out your notice of real estate assessment. And that’s telling you what your value is. Okay. And then we start all over again. Thank you.

00:13:47,270	Kim, what would happen if we turned in our assessment at 88%? Um, the sales ratio worksheet that I showed you will be calculated at the state level and at the Board of Equalization in August. Um, like you said, if we turned it in at 85%, they would order us to change our assessments and then they would dictate if they wanted at 93 or 95. So we would be ordered at that August meeting to up our assessments.

00:14:10,630	So what I’m trying to get at here is that the wiggle room with Century code is minimal. Correct. And my goal as the city assessor is to try to keep the level of assessment really close between commercial and residential, and I’d like to have that between 93 and 95%.

00:14:33,000	We don’t want to lose ground as the years go on. How long have you been doing this? How long have I been an assessor? Yes. Um, 29 years. And I have been here for. I think it’ll be eight years. Okay. Can you see my gray hairs? Is that. Any other questions for Kim? Okay. If not, commissioners.

00:15:09,900	Consider approval of the 2026 Annual report. Mayor, may I ask a question regarding these two? You may. So we’re looking at two motions here. The first motion, the way I understand it, Kim, is it it sets the stage. It sets the foundation for this year’s assessments.

00:15:44,070	Is that correct or incorrect? Mayor and Commissioner Schulberg, your the first motion is to approve the information I just gave you. Okay. With the exemptions, um, showing you that I’m in with tolerance level. And then after you approve that, then we’ll listen to the public, and then we can make a motion on any changes that need to be made. Okay. Thank you for the clarity. You’re welcome. With that.

00:16:11,230	I’ll move to approve the 2026 annual report is submitted by City Assessor Markley. Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Schulberg. Second, by Commissioner Brown. Any further discussion? Commissioner Hancock is still on the line. Correct? Yes. Okay. Hearing none. Roll call, please. Commissioner Haynes. Yes. Roger. Yes. Schulberg. Yes. Braun. Yes. Mayor. Freilich.

00:16:43,300	Yes. We will move on to the open form. The public is invited to express any question, comments or concerns regarding the 2026 annual report and 2026 property valuations at this time. I will now open the public meeting and please state your name or we have it. Um, signed in. Mr. Navarre. Mayor Froehlich. Yes, we are.

00:17:13,670	Okay. Thank. We have a we have a signing sheet ready to go. Okay. Open for public comment. Uh. Good evening. Um, my name is Ben Kappel. And first I’d like to start off by saying a quick thank you to the commission for holding this meeting.

00:17:39,400	I do have a packet I would like to hand out, if that’s all right. Are you. Do you want a big one? Sure. I got the smaller versions here. Thank you, thank you. Kylie, it’s easy to read and easy to go through. All right. Worst nightmare.

00:18:00,430	A realtor is going to come up here and bring some data. Um, I do want to touch about man Dan’s numbers right away. Right off the bat. Um, in a couple of these packets, I brought in the market summary for Mandan, and, uh, we are looking at, like a 1.

00:18:19,000	38% increase year over year from the MLS from December, you know, from December 24th to December 25th. That’s what our MLS polled, uh, 305 was uh, 305,000 was the 2024 number. And then 2025 was 309,000. So I did not see the 5%. Um, I did add that in a couple. I was running out of ink though, so some of you might not have that in your packet.

00:18:39,930	Um, so in the front of your page, I am protesting the 1712 14th Avenue Southeast. I did reach out to John to get a secondary opinion that was denied, but I do thank him for offering the target price. What we’re shooting for today, 92.8, that was mentioned earlier, which is fantastic.

00:18:58,330	I’m great with that. So today I provided you with an updated, uh, market analysis on this property. So if you flip to this one, it looks like this on the front of the page. This is just going to bring the what the current market value of this property is.

00:19:19,400	So um, there are different comps than what the city pulled. I, what I thought was more accurate comps is what I used, but it brought in at the market value of $472,000. So if we take that 92.8%, we’re looking at 438 for the assessed value.

00:19:41,070	Um, I do want to touch on because I had a conversation with John a little bit about why he chose some of this. So my job is to write property descriptions on places I know. This, um, he was going off of what was based in my property, which sold in 2020 for late 2024. So in the public descriptions, it says, you know, all these great things. Updated kitchen.

00:19:59,370	Well, that happened well over ten years ago. I’ve already had to replace two appliances. So as a realtor, I can call that an updated kitchen for somebody that I’m listing their property. But is it updated comparatively to the neighbor property which just sold? No, it’s well within reason.

00:20:16,870	Um, there was many other things in this that had inaccurate square footage in the listing description. Um, like it says, it has a wet bar that actually drains into a bucket. It’s kind of neat.

00:20:34,930	But anyways, so my concern was that the city assessor was using MLS data for public descriptions to analyze property, which is a giant concern for me, and it brought up issues in the real estate industry where we’re writing contracts and we might need to add in now in those contracts to delete this information. So it’s not being taken out of context when the city takes it in and starts evaluating these properties. But that’s um, a side note.

00:20:54,330	So, the next page I did, front page I did put in what they picked for their assessed values or their properties. What they’re picking. I crossed quite a few of these out because they weren’t quite comparable.

00:21:10,670	Um, like I said in my CMA that I printed out, I did print out what I thought was the most accurate, uh, comps for this property. So if you go on to page two of that, it does kind of list in more detail why or why not. That should have been a comp. Um, like some of these was one property was listed for almost 600 days.

00:21:24,200	One had, you know, a gorgeous view of a giant valley. So that wasn’t so I threw out quite a few of those. I didn’t believe that those were counts for my property. Another thing, you know, my property did sell in 2024. That’s when I purchased it. That was prior to it being adjacent to commercial property.

00:21:39,770	You’ve been to planning and zoning meetings, right? You know how much people love to live next to shop condos? Well, my property butts up next to shop condos now. So at Devalues my property. Um, and there’s likely more to be built. Yes. Mayor Froehlich, so did you have something to add there? Well, you you acquired.

00:21:59,830	Yes, I acquired it. Not knowing that I acquired it being commercial back. There, not acquire land to the east. Yes, I did acquire some land to the east or. Well, yeah, to the east. Yes. Um, yeah. That was a, that was a almost an eight month process. That’s right. I was in front of.

00:22:16,370	Your offer zone is what, from your back door? From my property line. Now the buffer zone is, you know, 40ft, but from my back door at 100ft to that 120ft. Um, so the problem is too, is if they do build more, those driveways will face right into my backyard.

00:22:35,600	I will be back here asking for another $50,000 in deduction, because that will drop our our property value significantly. If you have light shining in your back windows 24 hours a day and truck traffic rolling in and out in your backyard, that will make a significant difference. So on my CMA. So my next door house actually just did sell.

00:22:54,500	That’s my most my closest comp because that is in the neighborhood and now was adjacent to those shop condos which are just built. Um, those details are on page four of that packet with the pictures on the front.

00:23:14,600	Um, and again, John didn’t want to use that because my kitchen is slightly newer. I think he was under the impression that my kitchen was brand new. Like I said, I had to do some digging from the neighborhood and and those updates that he’s referring to were done back in 2015 is my best guess.

00:23:29,770	So technically, my kitchen is 15 years newer or 14 years newer than the neighboring house, but that does not mean that that shouldn’t be used as a comparable, um, so and then my second way of coming out to the analysis is I took everybody’s property values of their proposed assessed value on my block.

00:23:47,730	Since we are all very similar, I kind of being singled out as the one that’s being assessed quite high from our neighborhood. So if you go, we have the CMA, which brought you to that price. I also took the square foot price compared to the TLA. Um, of all the properties down my street, which are going to be almost identical.

00:24:07,630	Right? So their average was 269 a square foot, where my property was 311. So if you just applied that to 69, which is the average, going all the way down my block of what everybody paying, that would bring my assessed value to 445. So extremely similar to what my CMA pulled out as well for what the assessed value should be.

00:24:28,800	Um. Let’s see here. I think. Yeah, I have some details on those two closest comparable comps on one of the pages. I have some things highlighted. Like I said, one of them just sold for 437 and it’s now being assessed for 65,000 above what it just sold for.

00:24:48,930	Um, two and a half months ago. So. And I’m not here to seek other properties. I’m just pointing out the floor. If we’re going off of market value, that property 1801 for that property just sold, that is its market value. And now it’s being assessed $65,000 above what that property is.

00:25:08,330	Um, so I wanted to bring up that concern. I always like to bring up the tax credits. I work in the for the North Dakota Association of Realtors, too. We spent a lot of time on that tax credit. There’s a lot of confusion with that 3%. Rule two across the board.

00:25:21,270	No, it doesn’t apply to raising the assessed values. But if you look, say in my instance, um, in two years my tax credit will be gone. And that’s what the legislature did not want to have. They didn’t want to have that $1,600 be absorbed into budgets of the city, and then it just disappears.

00:25:37,730	And then we’re back to where we were. We’re square one. Um, I do know a lot of cities in North Dakota did put a cap like Dickinson. Don’t quote me, but I do believe they’re at a 10% cap on their what they can do an increase on assessed values year over year. The city commission voted on that.

00:25:52,800	So I’m a Dickinson kid. I came over here a few years ago, but I did want to point that out as maybe possibly something that the city commission would look into in the future, setting a cap.

00:26:04,170	So we do not lose these credits that come in, and then all of a sudden they disappear for a property owner after two years and they’re back to where there was, uh, back to where they were. So, um, two quick summarize, uh, wrap this up so I can get everybody else up here. Um, the CMA brought in the value of 438. The neighborhood average.

00:26:22,070	When we go off a square foot to the TLA on their prices of what their proposed was for 45, I would be happy with anything in that reason. Right now, I’m looking at an assessed value of 514, which is is quite high. I couldn’t couldn’t get that today.

00:26:41,300	Um, so I want to make sure that I’m within that, that 92 or even 93 to 95% anywhere in there is fine. But I wanted to bring some evidence of where I sit. Um, I did bring the previous listing description so you can read that again. It’s it’s embellished, which is what I, what we do. Um, so any questions that I could go over. No. It’s, uh.

00:27:09,500	Assessing, like, to address it. Excuse me. Sorry. His increase is 13%. Okay. Right. Kimberly, would his increase be. If you’re looking at a percentage increases, his would be 13%. If I’d worked it right up my calculator. 13%. Um, mayor and commissioner. Roger. That is correct.

00:27:46,400	But also remember that there was a big land adjustment in there, too, with the replant. So part of that is change. You know, we had 10,000ft last year on that lot. Now we have 45,000ft because of the land that was added with the Evergreen Heights fifth plat. Um, a couple of the sales in there.

00:28:09,470	I haven’t had a chance to look at this packet. Um, the only thing I can say is a couple of sales that were brought up that were sold in 2026, that will be in our sales ratio study for next year. So we are using 2025 sales. Um, other than that, I can’t speak to the packet information because I haven’t had a chance to review that.

00:28:27,430	Okay. Thank you. Kim. Okay. Just a quick touch on the the land. So with the assessed value it is separated. So land value, dwelling value. You have two different categories. Um, so all of my neighborhood, it wasn’t just me purchasing land that has been changed in the land value.

00:28:47,370	So I’m just talking about the dwelling value with my proposal. The land value did change accordingly. Um, the neighbors that purchased the a quarter behind them, basically, they all saw a $16,000 increase on their land value. While I had pretty close to double that since I bought the two quarters in the back there.

00:29:08,130	Um, so the the land value has is not what I’m focused on. We’re talking about the dwelling value, and that’s why I provided the comps there. Um, so that should be that should be addressed. Okay. Thank you Ben. Thank you. Kimberly.

00:29:28,430	Mary, if I might, um, we have to do when we’re talking about this and what’s on the sheets, we need to talk about total value, the house and the land together. So I don’t want to get that confused, so I don’t sure I understand what you’re saying. So you want you think that the house value itself should be the 438 between the 438 and the 445, not including the land? Am I misunderstanding? No you’re not.

00:29:50,700	Um. So it’s it’s not me who’s assessing these separately. This is the city’s process. They assess the land value and they assess the dwelling value. They put it together and they give you the full value.

00:30:09,970	Um, so that’s if you want to use, you know, my neighborhood assessment, all five, four of these would have that extra land on there. And that would still they would still meet that requirement on that one of the two, uh, the CMA, I yeah, I get what you’re saying. It’s not me that’s splitting it up though. It’s the city who splits up the land and the dwelling. So I’m just focused on the dwelling. Okay. Thank you. Ben.

00:30:34,430	Anyone else? Public form. Hi. My name is April Gorham. I don’t have a packet. Um, most of my stuff should already be in a file for our home. I am here to appeal the assessed value of our property, which is 1812 12th Avenue Southeast.

00:30:59,600	Um, I attempted to find comparable sales in our immediate area, but was unable to find any homes that were comparable to our home. Um, there was a house that had a significantly bigger yard that sold, but that had been remodeled multiple times, and it was exhausting process. It took forever to sell, and it very much was remodeled.

00:31:19,330	Our house, um, I understand that the values have increased demand and but my concern is that our home has been assessed at a value that reflects updated houses. Our house has not been updated since we bought it. Uh, we had it appraised in 2019, and that appraisal was for 255,000.

00:31:38,130	And last year the city appraised us at 309. And now we have an assessment, I’m sorry, at 288 last year. Now it’s assessed at 309, which is like a oh, 38% increase in six years. And we’ve done nothing except we redid our driveway and that doesn’t really increase value in a home.

00:32:02,200	Um, our house is dated. I have photos, but essentially our appraisal that we had, the photos are not much different. It’s just the carpet is worse than our the carpet, the linoleum, everything is very old. Way older than ten years. Uh, the our deck is needs to be renewed, redone.

00:32:25,000	I know that it sounds to me like how the assessor did the land was by looking at houses sold around the area, but most of the houses that sold were updated and ours is not. I really don’t believe we could put it on the market for this amount and actually sell it at this. There’s realistically it would not sell for that amount.

00:32:44,800	So I’m just here to, I guess, appeal this increase. Nope. There’s that’s all I have to say I guess. Okay. Thank you April. I’m looking for. Sure. I just have a quick question for the appellant. Have we looked at your property yet? Have we visited with you? Okay.

00:33:14,700	We will make a point to visit with her before the county board meeting and see if there’s if we need to go and review the property. Okay. Thank you. I sorry, hi, my name is Tori Meier. I am a real estate agent.

00:33:39,800	I’ve been doing real estate in the metro area for 11 years. Um, I also did real estate in Fargo, so I’ve been. This is my 16th year. I printed out a lot of information, and I’ll just give it to you. There’s more of a. So I would like to point out I’m at 3103 Bayshore Bend Southeast, and I want to bring up that.

00:34:29,400	I feel like the tax values are not the same in our area. I know houses don’t sell very often in that location. I do live on the water. Um, there is a newer area of houses are built on the water and that are obviously way higher.

00:34:46,130	I live in an older development, which is like one of the first houses that were built. Obviously they’re older. There was a new house that was built in the location, but I feel that the tax values are substantially not equalized. And I want to show you the information that I came up with.

00:35:05,270	Um, the first pages I want to show you is pictures of all the houses in my neighborhood. And as you can see, um, I will point out which one is mine. It definitely isn’t the nicest. Um, and it definitely blends in with the neighborhood. There are a few houses in the neighborhood that are. I’m talking like neighborhood.

00:35:24,930	I’m talking like on the water, like two doors down right next door. They’re properties that are directly like right next door. So I wanted to be as accurate as I possibly can.

00:35:43,900	And if you look at all the pictures that I’ll show you, all the ones in, in our neighborhood, and I want to just talk to you about the values in the last five years on my property in 2020, it was 469, 20, 21, 406, 2022, 528 um 2023 six, 1124, 642 and in 2025, 643. So in the last five years, it increased 43%.

00:36:12,470	So if we were to go over and say, board and harbor, one of the nicest houses over there built by the premier builder, it’s not that percentage. So I feel that houses on the water, the houses that are built cheaply and the houses that are high end, these ones are coming up a lot higher.

00:36:31,670	And I have examples like a high end house that has I have it on the list. I don’t want to say the house number because people are watching on TV, and I am a real estate agent, but I do want you to look at all the comps that I put on here.

00:36:47,870	I did price per square foot, so my price per square foot is $433. Um, a square foot right next door, there’s one that’s 392 doors down, 366 a few doors down, 404, another one is for 64, 369 for 15, 303 and nine, and $391 a square foot. Vastly different.

00:37:24,530	Why are my properties in value increasing price per square foot higher than anyone else in the neighborhood? And if you look at I have even more because I got all the ones on my street, I took pictures. You have them, um, in front of you, 465 is square foot. 369, 328 and 298. So three twos, threes.

00:37:50,000	And then obviously there is another one that’s as high as mine. But they’re not all equalized. They’re not all coming up on the same value. So let’s switch over to another. And on Lakewood that’s on the water. That is with the Premier Builder $298 a square foot. And their property increased 193,000 in the last five years.

00:38:15,800	And mine was way higher than that. So my concern is that if I buy a cheaper home or a high end home, the prices are not increasing like they should. It’s like they take it. It’s I know it’s an automated system.

00:38:36,530	They haven’t seen all the houses, but if you look at all the curb appeals, there’s a lot of houses that are there’s one that was built in 2018, a lot newer, um, higher square footage. And the price per square foot is not much different than mine. So multi levels in real estate in the last 11 years.

00:38:56,330	You do know that anything that is a patio home a ranch sells higher per square foot than a multi-level and split entry. That is just how real estate is. It’s based on percentage. So if you look at statistics in the last, um, a breakdown in the last five years, I mean, yeah, there’s price increases.

00:39:19,800	The highest year that we had was in 22 because the interest rate was 2.5. But if you look at the average, it’s between 2 to 3 some years or six. But it you know, if you go higher in price it’s a less percentage than the houses that are lower because there’s more buyers wanting to buy in that neighborhood.

00:39:41,200	My concern is I did get my house appraised in 2022 with a local gate, city bank, and they will only base appraisal value on total living square footage above ground. That’s how appraisers do it. That’s how they come with their value. And at the time that I got appraised in 2022, it was pushing the fives.

00:40:05,930	It was they wouldn’t go any higher. If I was to get it appraised and sell it for today, it would not be selling for 671. So my concerns are that it’s just not equalized in our neighborhood.

00:40:27,600	It’s not equalized on the high end homes, and the values are to me, it looks like if you look at all the statistics, everything increased 200,000 in the last five years. No matter what the price was. When you started. And I did talk to the tax, um, last year and they had it as a rant. I noticed this year it’s a split entry. It’s a multi-level.

00:40:47,030	I don’t know if they have that in their system, but if you look, if you want to know which which one mine is, is the second page the smallest picture that we’ll just kind of show you the curb appeal that my house is definitely not the nicest and my my price per square foot. That has increased is substantial.

00:41:12,330	Do you have questions? Nope. Thank you. Tori Kim. No response. Okay. Okay. My name is Marshall Freeland and I have a house at 4504 Highland Road. I purchased that house for 165,000 and the specials and everything were paid. And now the 25 or the 2025 assessment was $433,500. That’s an increase of $298,500.

00:42:17,100	And I guess I might have complained before because I, I had to get a in fact, that lady right there, she she inspected my house, but I know that it is just completely unaligned and so the increase of 298,000 is, is a lot. And now a 20 in 10 or 20, 26, $452,300.

00:42:58,200	That’s another increase of only $18,800. But anyway, the. The cost basis is $165,000. And now the. The difference here, the 297,000. So it’s 130,000 more than the cost of the house. I guess that’s a little bit ridiculous. I don’t know, Marshall needs to be replaced. It needs some repairs. Whatever happened to depreciation? Houses don’t get nicer. They get worse.

00:43:54,800	I don’t understand that. Anyway, I had l conic appraiser appraised at and he did appraiser that $285,000. So I think I should get a refund of 140 on 148,000 that I was overcharged for the 2024 or 2025 tax. Anyway, that’s that’s my complaint. I think they have kind of overcharged me.

00:44:39,670	Then I have a house at 2203 14th Avenue, South East. I’m building it myself and it’ll cost me about 280,000 when I’m done. I had the appraiser alcuni appraised it and he said it. He praised it at 285,000. Now I’ve got an assessment in in 2025 of $536,900, which is an overcharge of $251,900.

00:45:23,970	Then they come with a 2026 assessment, 565,000, an increase of $28,400, and I think I should get a refund on the tax I paid on the overcharge of $251,900. I would request the assessed valuation for 2026 should be reduced to 285,000. That’s it. On that piece of property. Now I have. My lumber yard, which is at 2329 Memorial Highway.

00:46:16,800	And they have that assessed at 1,748,500 for the year 2026. It was 1000 or 1,571,000. And that is an increase of $177,500. We have a road that’s being built on old highway ten. There, and I have to pay $29,000 every year for 25 years. And my my traffic has been reduced. Unbelievable.

00:47:15,670	I just don’t think they should do that to me. When it’s when it’s, uh, 1500 or 1,571,000, I think if they left it at that, I wouldn’t complain. I just pay it. But now it’s say $1,748,500. That 177, uh, $177,500 is the increase. That’s unfair. It’s not right. And I think they should address that. I didn’t make copies.

00:48:12,670	I should have, but. Anyway, then I got some more property in Sylvester’s edition. A lot three block two. Was 167,000. Now it’s $180,900. For 2026. That’s an increase of $13,900. Then I have a lot two. That was lot three. No, that’s lot two. Lot three. Yeah, the other three lots.

00:49:12,930	Uh, lot two was 180,400, and now it’s 195, 500. That’s an increase of $15,100 on that lot. Lot two in block two is was 187,000 167,000. And now they raised it to 180,900. That’s $13,900 increase. Lot four. It was valued at $178,100. And they increased it to $192,900.

00:50:04,230	And that’s $14,800 more increase. Well, I don’t know. I I’ve been able to pay the tax, but I think it’s very unfair. I. My daughter did send in the credit on the house I’m living in. I didn’t even get that $1,600 credit on the other house. It’s not finished yet.

00:50:35,170	I’ve been paying tax on that house ever since it got started. About 20 some years ago. But I’m getting close. It’s almost done. I, I, I have a plumber that’s coming in to put the boiler in. I installed everything else myself. But anyway, I don’t know, uh. If I leave these papers with you, can I have them back? Marshall? Yeah. Right now. Oh, you can make copies. Oh.

00:51:21,030	I only got that one. That one. That one, that one. And the two houses. Kim. Kim, has he has he come before you with these issues so that you could work through them with him? Is he on the list? Oh. I’m sorry. No, I haven’t reviewed the information that he supplied.

00:51:51,000	The only question I’d have for Mr. Phelan. Do you know when those appraisals were done that you mentioned that l did for you? What year? Well. Do you remember. What I. I got to the invoice in here. But no, we have not talked to Mr. Phelan yet this year. So. Okay. He charged me $700. 2024.

00:52:22,970	And. There’s a picture of the house. You’ve answered my question. So. I. There is the appraisal value $285,000. Yep. The question I asked me for Phelan was just what year this appraisal was completed. And it was in 2024. Now I had him do the other one.

00:53:03,070	And he charged me same price, $700 to get that job done. And this is the one at, uh, southeast. Uh. And that was done in 2017. No, it. Oh, oh, this was done for, for, uh. Um.

00:53:36,270	I’m, I’m 88 years old, so I’m, I’m going to give this stuff to my kids. And that’s what that was about to save some of this tax on the, uh, from the federal government, they get you big time on all these increases. Okay, so he did the appraisal as of July 3rd 20, 2017. Oh, okay. Okay. All right. Marshall. Over here. Marshall.

00:54:04,470	Yes, I what year did you buy the home on Highland Acres? What year did you purchase the home in Highland Acres, 2013. I sold my house on Memorial Highway to, um. Right now there’s a gas station there, and I got a little over $1 million when I sold it.

00:54:34,870	And, well, when you pay $1 million, you should pay tax on $1 million. But this thing is getting to be taxing people to death. Man, oh, man, it’s getting out of hand. I don’t I just don’t understand why what’s happening in this world. Okay. Thank you very much for your comments. Appreciate it. Thank you for your comments. We are here. Well. Thank you.

00:55:19,170	Anyway, thanks for listening. To me. You’re welcome. I’m good to be an old man. I haven’t eaten supper yet, but I’m grumpy. It’s good to see you tonight. Anyone else with comments? Good evening. My name is Mary Anderson, and we own a property up on Linda Drive, 1607 Linda Drive is the address.

00:55:48,270	We bought it in August for 233,000, and now I have an assessed value of 253 three. Madam, I’m having a hard time hearing you. Could you be a little more distinct? I’ll try. I get that. A lot. I’ll go back to the address again. 1607 Linda drive. We purchased it in August.

00:56:11,600	Last August for 233,000. Um, the assessed value was 230 304, but we paid 233 for it. And now it says that the current assessed value is 253 three. Um, that would be great to be. That would be tickled if we could get that for it today. But I’m certain that that’s just not in the cards for us.

00:56:36,000	Um, when we bought the house, there were there was no ceiling in the basement for, I guess, three quarters of the basement. And there’s other, other conditions in the house that we just thought, well, we can just put our sweat into it and increase value that way. Um, none of those things have happened.

00:56:52,800	That’s not true. We put new windows in, and we we refinish the floors upstairs, but, um, kitchen is as is. We’re working on the bathroom. That’s not even up. It’s not even a 1 in 3 quarters bath. As it stands today, it will be when we’re done. But today, definitely not.

00:57:13,800	And at the pace that things are going, I couldn’t say that it’s going to happen in a year, that that those things will be finished. Um, we are in the neighborhood that had the, uh, sewer line and, and water lines replaced. So we on top of this have a $10,000 special assessment on the value of our home. Sorry, dry mouth.

00:57:39,600	Um, and I just, I just think that that if you, if you look at a home, if we were to sell it today, we’d be looking at selling it for 233 plus the 10,000. You know, I mean, I just don’t think that I just don’t think I’m.

00:57:54,700	I’m nearly certain that there’s no way that we would be able to get 253 for this house. It’s an increase of like 9%, I believe. And I guess my question was, um, the the increase in the value is that based on a, on a, like a square foot value for the neighborhood or is it.

00:58:26,030	Mayor and commissioners, that’s part of it. That’s there’s so many different things that are considered, you know, um, the quality when it’s built, the size, the finish, you know, um, is the basement finished, how many bathrooms? There’s a lot of different things.

00:58:45,930	But, um, I can visit with you after the meeting to and give you some more information. And if we need to schedule a review. Okay, that’d be great. Be my. Best. Um, that would be my goal for tonight. To to just get a get a visit about it. Anyway. Okay. My questions are answered. Okay. Thank you. Mary. Thank you. And I live in the neighborhood, so.

00:59:14,630	Anyone else? Good evening. Patrick Keller, 33, 20, Bayshore Band. Um, I have some specific information. Then. Maybe some generic information. I don’t have handouts, but I can leave everything here after I present.

00:59:50,530	Um, my home was saw an increase of $22,000 from 2023 to 24, and then it saw $7,000 increase from 24 to 25, and then an $18,000 increase from 25 to 26 for a $47,000 increase, which would be 10% of the value. Excuse me, of the property. Um, I don’t know if that 92.

01:00:18,670	8% is the cap at what it should be, but based on that, my valuation of 47,100 800 for 2026 would mean that home would be valued at $584,000. And looking at some comps, um, from 2025, in the 3700 block of Bayshore Bend, there was a home that sold for $484,900, and another one in the 3200 block that’s sold for $459,100. So again, that if that 92.

01:00:50,730	8% is applied across the board, that would mean my home is valued at 508,400, which would seem to be excessive. Um, I did do a little bit of research and look at overall valuations in Mandan. Um, there’s a website called Neighborhood Scout, and they’re purported to be 97 to 98% accurate in the real estate and other data that they provide.

01:01:15,300	And they show that over a five year period that Mandan property values have increased an average of 2.5% per annum. Up until this most recent quarter. Um, in the most recent quarter of 2026, they’re actually showing a negative trend of -1.49% for property values. And some of the realtors.

01:01:40,400	Um, you can find they’ve been interviewed on TV and whatnot. They tend to support that that right now there’s a surplus of homes than there are buyers. And so the market is softening. Um, but if you analyze that out at -1.49 for a quarter, that’s a negative growth of -5.

01:02:00,370	84% in property valuations over the 2026 year. Assuming that property values are properties continue to be soft and homes can continue to be soft, and we know the economy is soft right now with all of the extra spending and inflation and gas prices and other things that are occurring right now. So that is what I have.

01:02:20,000	I can leave this all here if there are any questions. You can make copies. I guess I was asking Tori the the pictures you provided. Yes. Patrick’s information kind of embedded in here somehow. No. I don’t is. You’re both on Bayshore, right? Yeah. We are. She’s on the water, and I’m not.. So I when I just on the water.

01:02:47,170	Okay. Across the street, as a real estate agent, that’s not realistic. You have to use similar properties that are on the water. Okay. And that’s why I gave you prices per square foot of all the ones right in a row. And how mine is so much higher price per square foot than the comparison.

01:03:06,370	But you’re just on the water and Patrick. I can see the water, but I can’t access it. Okay. I would never put his in there. Okay. That was my question. Thank you. And you’re going to provide that information? Yeah. I think the gentleman was making copies. Okay. Shall I wait. Here? Uh, you could sit down.

01:03:36,130	Patrick, thank you very much. Is there anybody else that wanted to. Okay. Sorry. Not doing my job. Good evening. Uh, my name is Bernice Thomas, and. Um, we have lived in our house since we built it in. In 1978. And. In looking. Um, back. And then, of course, my husband had a severe stroke and. Uh.

01:05:00,030	15, which took him out of the workforce as well as myself to take care of him. And we lived in the same house. Like I said, almost 50 years and. The way it has been going up, same, um, in between 2021 and 2022, it went up 21,000 as a value.

01:05:40,330	Um, then the next year it went up 1300 to 100. The next year it went up $62,700. Last year went up $9,200. Now, I do not understand how the value can increase. Uh, and. Our whole goal is to be able to stay in our house.

01:06:15,600	And like I said, neither one of us. Because I have to, uh, be home with him. Um, so basically, we’ve got retirement, uh, from when he worked, I had been a stay at home mom for seven kids. That’s. That was 20 years worth. And, um.

01:06:45,900	This thing about, you know, people selling their houses, and then all of a sudden, the rest of us, our value goes up, but we don’t have the resources to keep on with these valuations, especially when you’re planning that this is your home. And until you know, you become you die or incapacitated.

01:07:20,470	And, um, I just because, you know, neighbors have sold their houses and we don’t live in a neighborhood. I’m sorry, I didn’t get my address. 1006 third Street northeast. And the value, uh, it just is not fair.

01:07:50,130	If other people around the neighborhood sell their house, and then those of us that are just trying to stay in our home, that it goes up and up and up, and yes, we do use the homestead tax credit. Um. But, um, last year, like I said it, the, the scale at which it’s going up and it’s we finally tore out some carpet that had been in almost 50 years.

01:08:20,930	In fact, we have my bedroom still has carpet from 1978. And, you know, we’re trying to keep the keep it, you know, looking decent from the outside. And I’m trying to keep, you know, the it looking nice and the, the yard and stuff.

01:08:49,070	But it’s like when you have to make improvements because it’s we just had to tear out that almost 50 year old carpet last year. And we, we so I, I don’t understand why there, there can’t be other than this uh, the tax credit and even with the tax credit plus the $1,600 that the state is giving us supposedly, uh, last year, last year, we still paid $1,500 in

01:09:27,530	taxes. And it’s hard to keep up your house. And then when, um, this increase every year, there should be a time when you finally own your house, when you should be done with taxes. That’s my bottom premise is when is enough enough? We’re just trying. We’re not planning.

01:10:02,770	We have nothing to, you know, be going into a nursing home or anything like that. And I’m just wondering when is enough enough? I thought the whole thing with the the $1,600 was supposed to eliminate, um, your taxes, but it’s not. So I don’t know how.

01:10:34,900	Elderly people that can’t be working outside their home anymore. I have enough just trying to keep up their. And, uh, so. That’s about what I have to say. I, I mean, it’s not like, yippee! Our house is worth, um. Then it’s going up after after last year. Uh, like I said, in 2024, it went up 62,000.

01:11:23,370	The valuation 700 and, um, and now it’s, it’s, uh, going to be going up another, um. Between, you know, what the current assessment from 276,100 to 292,100, but there’s there’s got to be a point at which we’ve paid enough.

01:11:58,600	We’ve gone through three different times of all the, uh, the street, because when we moved there, um, the end of the block was where, where it was gravel road. And then so when that got paved, there was that specials and two other. The last special was $10,000 and between the specials and hopefully there’s no more of those, but than the value of the house goes up and we our lot is 50 by about 150.

01:12:32,130	So it’s broke down to two lots, a lot 11 and 12. So I would just like some kind of relief for those of us that, um, have paid enough. Thank you. Renee. Thank you for to everyone who spoke tonight. Appreciate it. Kim.

01:13:16,670	Um, mayor and commissioners, um, the at this time is when we would, um, give you my recommendations for changes. Looking at the Excel spreadsheet that I gave everybody since this was posted to, um, the agenda was posted last Thursday. Um, we have reviewed appeal number 22 and updated that recommendation. Recommendation for a change.

01:13:50,200	Um, appeals 120 through 128 were added since that um, since last Thursday, we have several appointments scheduled before the county BOE. And you’ll see that in the recommendations and the notes on the on those that we’ll need to review before county boards. Um, the people that presented tonight need to be added to our appeal list. April Gorham. Thank you.

01:14:14,800	And the properties for Marshall Phelan, the two houses, the lumberyard and the two lots, um, Mary Anderson, Patrick Keller and Bernice Thomas. Um, my recommendation is not to make a change tonight and to review those before county board. We will reach out to those people that presented tonight and will review the information that they gave us.

01:14:39,370	So you have my recommendations on that spreadsheet and my comments from what was presented tonight. Okay. Unless you have any questions on. Anything. Any questions. If none, I would entertain a motion. Comment. After you make the motion. Okay. After. If we get a motion. I need to step. Up.

01:15:33,170	And commissioners, I guess I got a question on timelines of this seems to be the normal process of the people that have spoken tonight. Now we follow up, but we’re we are approving the rest of the sheet, except for the prop people that have spoke tonight and the other ones that were added.

01:15:56,870	Um, I guess is this a timeline of this is how it always goes, I guess, to to approve the rest? Um, I guess that’s my question. Mayor and Commissioner Henson, normally we make a motion to, um, approve the list that I’ve given you with my recommendations, and then we will follow up with any of the

01:16:21,270	information that was given to us tonight. And there’s also some on your list that we’ve indicated we will be following up and physically doing reviews before the county board. Okay. And if they miss the date, okay.

01:16:42,670	If they missed the appeal date tonight, they can still appeal to the county board. They would not be able to appeal to the state board, but they could still appeal to County, which is June 4th at 630 6:00, June 4th at 6:00. Is the county board. Okay? Commissioner, were your questions answered? Yes. Commissioner Solberg.

01:17:20,030	Yeah, I guess just to clarify in my own mind, so the folks that took the time to come here tonight, you’ll be speaking with them, correct? We they signed in on the sign in sheet with their phone numbers and addresses. So we’ll do follow up. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Kim I’ll move to approve the recommendations for the appeals as submitted by City Assessor Markley. Second.

01:17:45,100	We have a motion by Commissioner Schulberg, a second by Commissioner Brown. Any further discussion. Mister public comments? I I’ve heard some, you know, different arguments tonight. I, I find that there’s definitely validity to some of these arguments.

01:18:06,770	The the factor that we are kind of bound by this procedure that we have to follow and we have to ask ourselves whether or not the city following this procedure, you know, in the legal foundation that the assessor found the North Dakota Requirements and evaluation reasonably, reasonably reflects typical buyer what they pay for our property.

01:18:28,930	And and then we’re obligated to maintain, you know, equity across all properties. You know, in view of this, you know, there’s a it’s not a solid issue. There’s some subjectivity here. There is the subjectivity is there’s going to be judgments involved in this. We rely upon our system, I think does a great job.

01:18:47,200	And then you have, you know, the people who look at the issues and they bring for other things. And, uh, in reality, the value of your property is a paper value until you sell it. It’s a paper value. But that’s the reality of this, this whole procedure here. And we have to do that. Now.

01:19:07,400	And I fully understand, you know, the points of argument made here and the concern and the increase as we move along here, the city, you know, when you start in, whether you increase mills or whether you increase property values, the property owner still pays X number of dollars. It all fits into the same formula.

01:19:26,030	And we see an increase in a lot of things. There’s an inflationary movement. And in many areas, not to mention the real estate and property taxes, sales taxes, all these things and has become a certain to a certain respect, a certain part of life that’s difficult to negotiate and difficult for many of us to live by.

01:19:47,330	But we as commissioner to we have to look at what Cameron has done here in terms of the legal foundations that she based upon her things for and, and, uh, so that’s basically where I come from and understanding what’s being presented to us, whether or not Kimberly has provided all the structure and formulas

01:20:08,070	to give us what we’re supposed to be. And I’m not. I wouldn’t want to even be in a position to have to come out and say, okay, your your property is worth this or this or not that.

01:20:21,470	That’d be a tough job for me even to negotiate, and I wouldn’t want to do that. But I do appreciate the people coming forward. And I also appreciate the work that the assessment department does to try to make this thing as amenable as possible. Thank you, thank you. Yeah. This is the most difficult meeting of the year by far.

01:20:39,200	Okay. With that? Um, any other comments? If not, roll call, please. Commissioner Brown. Yes. Coburg. Yes. Roger. Yes. Hi, John. Yes. Mayor. Freilich. Yes. There is no other business before this board. And with that, we are adjourned. Thank you for coming.