North Dakota Code 57-15-01.1 – Protection of taxpayers and taxing districts
Each taxing district may levy the lesser of the amount in dollars as certified in the budget of the governing body, or the amount in dollars as allowed in this section, subject to the following:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 57-15-01.1
- Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Governing body: means a board of county commissioners, city council, board of city commissioners, school board, or board of education, or the similarly constituted and acting board of any other municipality. See North Dakota Code 57-02-01
- Property: includes property, real and personal. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Rule: includes regulation. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Taxable valuation: signifies the valuation remaining after deducting exemptions and making other reductions from the original assessed valuation, and is the valuation upon which the rate of levy finally is computed and against which the taxes finally are extended. See North Dakota Code 57-02-01
- taxing district: means a county, city, township, school district, water conservation and flood control district, Garrison Diversion Conservancy District, county park district, joint county park district, irrigation district, park district, rural fire protection district, or any other subdivision of the state empowered to levy taxes. See North Dakota Code 57-02-01
- year: means twelve consecutive months. See North Dakota Code 1-01-33
1. No taxing district may levy more taxes expressed in dollars than the amounts allowed by this section.
2. For purposes of this section:
a. “Base year” means the taxing district’s taxable year with the highest amount levied in dollars in property taxes of the three taxable years immediately preceding the budget year; b. “Budget year” means the taxing district’s year for which the levy is being determined under this section; c. “Calculated mill rate” means the mill rate that results from dividing the base year taxes levied by the sum of the taxable value of the taxable property in the base year plus the taxable value of the property exempt by local discretion or charitable status, calculated in the same manner as the taxable property; and
d. “Property exempt by local discretion or charitable status” means property exempted from taxation as new or expanding businesses under chapter 40-57.1; improvements to property under chapter 57-02.2; or buildings belonging to institutions of public charity, new single-family residential or townhouse or condominium property, property used for early childhood services, or pollution abatement improvements under section 57-02-08.
3. A taxing district may elect to levy the amount levied in dollars in the base year. Any levy under this section must be specifically approved by a resolution approved by the governing body of the taxing district. Before determining the levy limitation under this section, the dollar amount levied in the base year must be:
a. Reduced by an amount equal to the sum determined by application of the base year’s calculated mill rate for that taxing district to the final base year taxable valuation of any taxable property and property exempt by local discretion or charitable status which is not included in the taxing district for the budget year but was included in the taxing district for the base year.
b. Increased by an amount equal to the sum determined by the application of the base year’s calculated mill rate for that taxing district to the final budget year taxable valuation of any taxable property or property exempt by local discretion or charitable status which was not included in the taxing district for the base year but which is included in the taxing district for the budget year.
c. Reduced to reflect expired temporary mill levy increases authorized by the electors of the taxing district. For purposes of this subdivision, an expired temporary mill levy increase does not include a school district general fund mill rate exceeding one hundred ten mills which has expired or has not received approval of electors for an extension under subsection 2 of section 57-64-03.
d. Reduced by the amount of state aid under chapter 15.1-27, which is determined by multiplying the budget year taxable valuation of the school district by the lesser of the base year mill rate of the school district minus sixty mills or fifty mills, if the base year is a taxable year before 2013.
4. In addition to any other levy limitation factor under this section, a taxing district may increase its levy in dollars to reflect new or increased mill levies authorized by the legislative assembly or authorized by the electors of the taxing district.
5. Under this section a taxing district may supersede any applicable mill levy limitations otherwise provided by law, or a taxing district may levy up to the mill levy limitations otherwise provided by law without reference to this section, but the provisions of this section do not apply to the following:
a. Any irrepealable tax to pay bonded indebtedness levied pursuant to section 16 of article X of the Constitution of North Dakota.
b. The one-mill levy for the state medical center authorized by section 10 of article X of the Constitution of North Dakota.
6. A school district choosing to determine its levy authority under this section may apply subsection 3 only to the amount in dollars levied for general fund purposes under section 57-15-14 or, if the levy in the base year included separate general fund and special fund levies under sections 57-15-14 and 57-15-14.2, the school district may apply subsection 3 to the total amount levied in dollars in the base year for both the general fund and special fund accounts. School district levies under any section other than section 57-15-14 may be made within applicable limitations but those levies are not subject to subsection 3.
7. Optional levies under this section may be used by any city or county that has adopted a home rule charter unless the provisions of the charter supersede state laws related to property tax levy limitations.