Ward County taxpayers should expect to see a familiar envelope in the mail in the coming week or so. The dreaded property tax statements should be mailed out next week.
Combined, the 2013 levy will rise from $1,405 per $100,000 of home value to $1,476 per $100,000 of home value. The tax levels will vary because some jurisdictions are requesting higher levies and others lower levies, but property assessments on which those levies are based have generally risen.
The upward trend certainly shouldn't be surprising to anyone in the county. The Minot Park District, the Minot Public School District, Minot and Ward County have all increased their levies as flood recovery work continues, and that work costs money.
In order to make necessary repairs, local entities need money, and obviously not all of that money can come from federal agencies or grants.