Jan. 2—GRAND FORKS — At its first meeting of 2024, the Grand Forks City Council on Tuesday approved several property tax exemptions and also approved continued progress on security system implementation at city buildings.

Under North Dakota Century Code, cities are allowed to exempt an increase in property taxes due to the increase in the value of the property because of renovations. In total, the council approved almost $21,000 in savings for residents in the city who applied for improvements done to properties. The exemption lasts for five years.

To be eligible, residential buildings must be at least 25 years old and the renovation must increase the market value of the property by at least 10% or $5,000, whichever is the least. Residents also have to fill out a form with the city. For this round of applications, 12 in total, they were mostly exterior improvements, such as new roof shingles, new windows and new siding, among other improvements. The average saving per application was $1,738.66 for their property tax bill.

For 2024’s budget,

the city’s mill rate has decreased by 0.5 mill over 2023’s. The mill levy is the total of the budgets of the city, county, school and park district (along with other entities that use property tax dollars in their budgets) divided by the total city value. It’s then multiplied by the taxable value of the property to determine the tax due. For 2024, taxes are due March 1, but if the bill is paid in full before Feb. 15, a 5% discount is applied.

While the city’s mill rate has gone down, the median home price has increased 54% in 10 years. In 2013, the average home was worth $149,400 in Grand Forks; in 2023 it was $230,000, according to the city assessing department’s 2023 report to the Board of Equalization. In that same time, the total mill levy has dropped from 367.71 to 328.06.

The City Council also approved $304,395.50 for continued implementation of security systems for city buildings. This phase of the project will focus on police and fire buildings. The process began in 2019 to standardize and centralize security into one system. The bid has been awarded to West Fargo’s High Point Networks, which has been the city’s network and security vendor since the project began.

Updates to security at the HIVE and at City Hall were completed within the last year. The improvements include hardware upgrades, entrance security improvements and camera installation and improvements.

In other news, the council:

* Approved plans and specifications for the reconstruction of 10th Avenue North between Fifth Street North and North Washington Street.

* Approved plans and specifications for the cleaning of an English Coulee diversion channel.

* Approved the purchase of 1301 1st Ave. N. The property is right along the Washington Street underpass and the owner was looking to sell to the city due to the use it could be for future road construction projects in that area.