The 2024 preliminary county budget totals $57.85 million, with a requested property tax of about $22 million.

The owner of an average home assessed at $225,000 would see a $17.72 increase on the county’s share of property tax, assuming no change in home valuation from last year. The increase would be $26.53 on the average quarter of farmland.

Commissioners heard from several residents concerned about their property taxes during Tuesday’s public hearing. Residents questioned spending on outside agencies.

“I don’t like the Assiniboine River Basin, even though it’s only $7,500,” Larry Bellew of Minot said. “I, as a city taxpayer, I don’t know what I get out of that. Garrison Diversion, I’m not sure why this county belongs to it. But we do. I think the North Dakota State Fair could be lowered, and I’m not sure what the Souris River Joint Board and the Water Resources Board do, but there’s a lot of money there.”

Jill Schramm/MDN Sherry Jensen presents information to the Ward County Commission Tuesday during a public hearing on the 2024 budget.

“It’s the North Dakota State Fair. Tell the State of North Dakota to pay for it,” said Minot resident Scott Samuelson. “Tell the State of North Dakota to pay for Garrison Diversion.”

There also was public objection to $34,850 for Project BEE, a local nonprofit serving homeless and low-income individuals and families.

The preliminary budget provides $371,558 for Garrison Diversion, which provides programs to support water supply and recreation projects; $371,558 for the Ward County Council on Aging; $400,000 for the North Dakota State Fair; $394,300 for the Soil Conservation District; $670,000 for Souris River Joint Board; and $3.16 million for the Ward County Water Resource Board, which oversees and sponsors various projects related to water management, drainage and flooding.

The county budget also includes $80,500 for historical societies, $39,000 for Souris Basin Planning Council, $215,500 for promotions and economic development groups, $119,645 for Vision Zero and $873,786 for First District Health Unit.

Chairman John Fjeldahl said the commission will review the allocated dollars, but he noted the commission already has turned down requests for increases in these areas.

“We’ve cut a lot of these,” he said. “We don’t fund everything we get a request for, and we more than likely will do some more trimming.”

However, he added, “We fund it because we see some work done for the county and communities.” For instance, the Souris River Joint Board is seeing a large amount of funding currently because of its work with the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project.

“We can do away with them,” he said of the funded entities. “I don’t know what the result would be.”

Commissioner Shelly Weppler said Ward County’s fair has been designated as the State Fair, a title it does not want to risk losing to another community.

“The tax dollars that the State Fair bring in far exceed the amount that’s going back to them,” she said.

The meeting conversation eventually routed around to the proposed measure to eliminate property taxes in North Dakota. Petitions are being circulated to place the measure on the ballot.

“It’s time to tell the State of North Dakota to step up,” Samuelson said. “In my opinion, the only way that happens is if there’s a measure that goes through to end property tax. The State of North Dakota is going to wake up. They’ve got billions of dollars that they waste, while we have our young kids struggling to make it, and we have our elderly on fixed income that are struggling to make it. We are driving people out of Minot and Ward County and North Dakota.”

Fjeldahl said he sees the appeal in eliminating property taxes but also sees public fear of the unknown with that significant change.

“There’s always a fear of eliminating property taxes completely. The reason for that is because in the environment that we live in, the money will come from somewhere,” said resident Sherry Jensen, Minot. “It does not mean I’m not going to vote for it. It just means the money is going to come. How it is coming, I think, really needs to be decided.”

Commissioner Howard “Bucky” Anderson reminded the crowd of the huge defeat a measure to eliminate property taxes took in 2010.

“People feel they can’t get by without property tax. They don’t think – they feel – that way, and they vote the way they feel. They don’t think. They don’t look at numbers,” he said. “Is the public ready for a funding source other than property tax? I don’t think they are. They all complain, but they are not willing to make a change.”