Several residents appeared before the Devils Lake City Commission’s City Board of Equalization to appeal valuations of their properties on Monday, April 6, starting at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.
Property owners who disagreed with the assessed value of their property, as determined by the City’s Assessing Department had the chance to appeal the valuation at the beginning of the meeting when the City Commission held their Board of Equalization (BOE), which consists of all City Commission members.
After approval of the minutes from last year’s BOE meeting on April 7, 2025, City Assessor Rob Johnson reviewed for the Commission the BOE’s annual report, which covered its role and purpose, and examined the quintile assessment cycle that was utilized by his department to make sure that every property in the City has been assessed at least once every five years. “Your role as the Board of Equalization is to basically equalize the values, make sure that the values that are set are fair and equitable throughout the community,” Johnson said. “You can adjust those as you … deem appropriate, whether it’s an increase or a decrease.”
“Also, it’s an opportunity for residents of the city to be able to come in and present their cases if they disagree with the valuation that we have,” he added.
Johnson broke the city down into five different zones for assessment on an ongoing five-year cycle, starting with Zone 2 in 2023, Zone 3 in 2024, and Zone 4 in 2025. This summer, they will check out properties in Zone 5, followed by Zone 1 in 2027, then his department starts the process all over again. “That way, I’m getting out and I’m touching every property, at least once every five years, to make sure the information that we utilize to determine values is accurate, correct within our system,” he said. “This last year, when I did Zone 4, I got into about 9.7% of the homes. We sent a letter off to every property owner in the zone, asking if they would schedule an appointment for me, but for me to be able to go in to do an assessment takes about 10 to 15 minutes.”
According to the report, that percentage boils down to 18 in-house completed inspections out of 186 residential properties in Zone 4 last year, down from 11.5% a year prior and 14.2% two years ago. An additional seven inspections were completed last year that were outside Zone 4. The remainder of the residential properties in that zone were completed with estimated inspections, i.e. inspections done by observing the exterior and making estimations.
Cary Eriksson was the first resident to stand before the Board to appeal the valuation of his property. “I did get the letter, and my taxes were going up 10%, which is crazy, which I thought, so I was going to come here in the first place,” he said. “But then I called Rob, and I talked to him, and he went through the square footage of my house, and what I was being taxed for.”
Eriksson learned after further discussion with Johnson, the estimated inspection of his property had made an incorrect determination. “On my assessment, it shows that I have living space above my house (in the attic space), which I don’t have,” Eriksson said. “So, I’ve been taxed for that living space for 19 years, you know, and it ended up dropping the value of my house quite a bit.”
Johnson informed Eriksson that he could file an abatement to receive a tax refund. However, that abatement is limited to only the previous two years. “I don’t want to pay taxes for 17 years for footage that I don’t even have,” Eriksson said. “And at the time when I built the house, I know there’s city inspectors, you know, and if they came through and looked at the house and it was being built, they would’ve known there’s no living space up there.”
“So, I just don’t think I should be charged for that,” he said. “If I get two years back… 17 extra years, that’s what I’m complaining about.”
Mayor Jim Moe and City Attorney Jason Saylor told Eriksson that they would investigate the matter to see what could be done.
The next resident to address the Board was Chuck Erickson. “I’m a little bit of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau; at 80 years old, I’m a grumpy old man, and I’ve seen a lot, but nothing like the travesty we’re seeing with the Devils Lake real estate taxes since I started paying taxes 56 years ago,” he said.
“I got flooded off the lake in ’97 and was desperate to find a lot, and bought a lot for a price of $16,750,” Erickson said. “That was a big mistake. I should’ve moved three miles east of town, Highway 2, bought 40 acres and became a pumpkin farmer, paid no taxes on my house.”
Erickson said that in 2021, the land value went to $22,000 and $22,800; in 2024 the valuation jumped to 37,400. “This is all about the land, not about my house,” he added. “This year, the land jumped $22,400, to a ridiculous value of $59,800 for my land.”
Erickson reiterated that the value of the land has nothing to do with the value of the house and should be valued separately. “I’d like the value of this land to be back just two years, it was $22,800,” he said. “We’re not trying to play catch-up from Devils Lake’s past tax mistakes.”
Another property owner who came forward was Arne Berg. “I feel a lot like Chuck. I’m Chuck’s neighbor, two doors over,” he said, adding that his most recent property valuation was $45,000. “Last year, it was 28, year before it was 19, so it’s more than doubled in two years.”
“Roughly, my real estate taxes have doubled since 2013, so I’ve started to be a little more sensitive to it,” Berg added. “I’m comfortable there. I’m thinking maybe I should have something smaller when the taxes are so high. I really feel that if that house burned down, we level that lot off, you think I could sell it for $45,000? I don’t think I have a chance of selling for $45,000.”
Regarding land rates, when Johnson’s department sent out assessment notices, they included breakdowns of the land and structure values. “Because a lot of people would be able to see where those adjustments were being made on their properties for valuations,” he said. “And then that way, when they came in, we could have those discussions. It was a little bit easier to be able to show them what was happening on their valuations.”
As the City’s Assessing Department didn’t have any recent vacant residential lot sales to be able to use to determine a market rate for properties, they used an alternative process provided by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) called “the allocation method.”
“According to the IAAO guideline,” Johnson said, “our land value should be approximately 18 to 20% of our total, true and full value for a property.”
Johnson said that when he started with the land study in 2024, he had the intentions of bringing the land values in line then. However, he soon determined that there was no real mechanism to determine those values for properties and in a fair and equitable way. So, he focused on using the allocation method, as well as breakdowns of the average land rates within each neighborhood, to help apply a more uniform land rate to every property within the city.
“Our sales rate was 85.2% of the sale prices for properties,” Johnson said. “If we’re not in tolerance, if, say, we didn’t make any adjustments, we left it at 85.2%, the State Board of Equalization will come in, and they would say, OK, we want you at 98%, you’re going to do a 13% increase across the board.”
“That’s why I think this meeting’s important because we want that done on the local level,” Johnson said, adding that’s why he really encourages people to come in and talk to him. “I don’t know every property intimately. And so, it’s good to have some of those conversations to be able to identify where maybe adjustments need to be made on certain properties. … You get to the state, they don’t care, they’re just going to come and take a brush and make the big, sweeping changes.”
After the meeting, Johnson said that residents sometimes confuse valuations and property taxes. “I think a lot of people get that mixed up where they think that, OK, my valuations on my property went up 7%, my property taxes are going up 7%. That’s not how it works,” he said, adding that he’s trying to continue to educate people on how valuations impact taxes and how the process works.
Mayor Moe also wants to have better understanding of land valuations and how it impacts the city and its residents. “That was a concern,” he said, noting the complaints made by residents in the meeting. “I do have to agree, it seems like, out of line, but I’ve got to understand what they’re trying to accomplish here.”
For more information on mill levies and property valuations, visit the ND Association of Counties site at https://www.ndaco.org/about-counties/property-tax/.
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