1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:18,660
The Assessor's Office really, we provide real estate services for the city of Fargo.

2
00:00:18,660 --> 00:00:24,620
Our primary deliverable to the city is our assessment role, which consists of all the

3
00:00:24,620 --> 00:00:29,820
parcels in the city, their legal description, their ownership, their tax classification

4
00:00:29,820 --> 00:00:33,000
and of course their property value, which in the end is our job.

5
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:39,080
We try to make sure that the assessments are fair for everyone by monitoring the market

6
00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:44,380
on a regular basis, by going out and making sure that our information is accurate.

7
00:00:44,380 --> 00:00:48,620
And then we also do comparison of properties to each other.

8
00:00:48,620 --> 00:00:54,300
We try to compare them apples to apples as much as possible so that we are valuing similar

9
00:00:54,300 --> 00:00:57,100
properties in a similar way.

10
00:00:57,100 --> 00:01:01,460
There's secondary benefits that come from the work we do here in our office, both internally

11
00:01:01,460 --> 00:01:02,620
and externally.

12
00:01:02,620 --> 00:01:05,960
Our data is used by many departments here in the city.

13
00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:10,200
Our property data is very valuable to our planning department, our engineering department,

14
00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,020
our auditor's department and even our inspections department.

15
00:01:13,020 --> 00:01:18,020
And of course, there's other benefits as well to external stakeholders that our data provides.

16
00:01:18,020 --> 00:01:21,700
Our data is very valuable to the local real estate market.

17
00:01:21,700 --> 00:01:26,820
That includes real estate appraisers, lenders, real estate agents and even title companies.

18
00:01:26,820 --> 00:01:31,600
I don't think that the real estate market here in Fargo could function as it does without

19
00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:33,660
our assessment and property data.

20
00:01:33,660 --> 00:01:38,200
There's many factors that are involved in the valuation of a property.

21
00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:40,780
The primary one would be location.

22
00:01:40,780 --> 00:01:46,340
Other factors that would affect how we value a property would be the size, the bedroom

23
00:01:46,340 --> 00:01:51,220
and bathroom count, garage stalls, things along those lines.

24
00:01:51,220 --> 00:01:53,380
The property tax is a local tax.

25
00:01:53,380 --> 00:01:58,940
Roughly 99% of your property tax bill stays here within Cass County.

26
00:01:58,940 --> 00:02:04,320
Within the city of Fargo, about 20% of your property tax bill goes to fund city services.

27
00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:08,100
That includes your police department, your fire department, making sure the roads get

28
00:02:08,100 --> 00:02:10,660
out in the winter and fixed in the summertime.

29
00:02:10,660 --> 00:02:15,220
It funds our public health services and it funds our library services, among many other

30
00:02:15,220 --> 00:02:17,980
things that the city provides to our citizens.

31
00:02:17,980 --> 00:02:21,780
So we have a lot of information available on the city website.

32
00:02:21,780 --> 00:02:26,780
ParcelParsals.com is probably the most heavily trafficked URL on the city website.

33
00:02:26,780 --> 00:02:31,540
There you can search parcel information by address or parcel number and we provide basic

34
00:02:31,540 --> 00:02:36,980
information on the parcel property data along with several years worth of value and also

35
00:02:36,980 --> 00:02:39,100
special assessment information.

36
00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:43,260
One thing I'd really like to highlight is our office's effort to put our exemption applications

37
00:02:43,260 --> 00:02:44,260
online.

38
00:02:44,260 --> 00:02:49,140
For years, these applications were mailed out and people had to complete sometimes multiple

39
00:02:49,140 --> 00:02:51,100
applications and mail them back.

40
00:02:51,100 --> 00:02:54,740
We've been working over the past several years to get all of these applications on

41
00:02:54,740 --> 00:02:57,020
our website and available for the public.

42
00:02:57,020 --> 00:03:00,980
We're hoping that this process makes it more convenient for both the public and more efficient

43
00:03:00,980 --> 00:03:01,980
for us.

44
00:03:01,980 --> 00:03:06,620
If there's one thing I would want the city of Fargo to know is that our office is an

45
00:03:06,620 --> 00:03:11,500
office of professional appraisers and we work very hard for the citizens to try and give

46
00:03:11,500 --> 00:03:14,060
them value for the work that we do.

47
00:03:14,060 --> 00:03:19,980
We also try to be as professional and courteous as we can in delivering the product that we

48
00:03:19,980 --> 00:03:25,060
have for the citizens and we know that we work for the city of Fargo and that we try

49
00:03:25,060 --> 00:03:27,180
to work as hard as we can for the citizens.