AGO 81-028.

• Case Date: March 23, 1981
• Court: North Dakota

North Dakota Attorney General Opinions 1981. AGO 81-028. OPINION 81-28Date Issued: March 23, 1981 (AGO 81-28) Requested by: Richard C. Wilkes, Assistant State's Attorney for Ward County- QUESTIONS PRESENTED - Whether subsection 2 of section 11-10.1-05, of the North Dakota Century Code requires that on January 1, 1981, each assessor in a county, regardless of how long he has served as assessor, must have met the minimum requirements for assessor. Whether subsection 2 of section 11-10.1 -05, N.D.C.C., requires that an assessor be certified by the state supervisor of assessments by January 1, 1982, if that individual assumed the assessor's duties in January 1981, for a city or township that had exercised the option to employ its own assessor.- ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OPINION - It is my opinion that subsection 2 of section 11-10.1-05, N.D.C.C., was intended to require that by January 1, 1981, every assessor in the county who at that time had been an assessor for at least one year must meet the minimum requirements for the kind of assessment jurisdiction for which the assessing duties are to be performed. However, if an assessor did not have an opportunity to become certified because a course of instruction was not conducted or provided by the county director of tax equalization, then the assessor may continue until given the opportunity to take the course of instruction and become certified by the state supervisor of assessments. It is my further opinion that a city with a population under five thousand or a township must have exercised its option prior to January 1, 1981, to retain its assessor in order to employ an assessor after that date. If the assessor assumes his duties in January 1981, he cannot continue as assessor for more than one year unless the state supervisor of assessments has certified that he has met the established minimum requirements. However, if the assessor did not have an opportunity to become certified within that time because a required course of instruction was not conducted or provided during that year by the county director of tax equalization, he can continue as assessor until he has had that opportunity, provided he then becomes certified by the state supervisor of assessments. - ANALYSIS - The only specific date prescribed in subsection 2 of section 11-10.1-05, N.D.C.C., is January 1, 1981. That is...