Say Anything Blog

so what exactly is a “mill,” in this context?  i don’t think i’ve ever seen the word used in that way before.

"No Sane man will dance.”—Cicero

A mill is a tenth of one cent, a thousandth of a dollar.  Like a millimeter is a thousandth of a meter, and a mile(mille) is a thousand military steps.

"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

so what exactly is a “mill,” in this context?  i don’t think i’ve ever seen the word used in that way before.

Say for example you own a residential structure on a residential lot worth $100,000.  1 mill would equate to $4.50 in taxes per year.  If you had a commercial structure valued at the same $100,000 the mill would be worth $5 even.

It is my job to know this.

From Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: 3mill
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin mille thousand
: a money of account equal to 1/10 cent

"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

Yes, Robert108, however since this levy in this context is to be applied in Grand Forks County, you must follow the North Dakota guidelines.  That is your True & Full Value X .5 = Assessed Value.  Assessed Value X .09 = Residential Taxable Value.  Assessed Value X .10 = Commercial/Ag Taxable Value.

Now that you’ve taken the value of the parcel to it’s respective Taxable Value, you take THAT number times your mill/1000.  I’m pretty sure that since the Merriam-Webster definition just gives a breakdown of the Latin root, it doesn’t explain anything to anyone.

k: You have described a method of arriving at appraised value; the definition of a mill is one-tenth of a cent, like the dictionary said.

"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

robert108, I was responding to the person who asked:

so what exactly is a “mill,” in this context?

1/10 of a cent is a mill in ANY context.  To go into a specific context, such as was asked, requires more information.  A mill as applies to Grand Forks county was as I defined.  I also feel it is part of my civic duty to define to taxpayers where the amount on their tax bills comes from.  When people see $1.6 million needs to be raised, they freak out on their sweet, adorable county employees.  This would not be a necessary occurance if they were properly educated.  Therefor if your house has a True & Full value of $100,000 you can expect a 10 mill increase to cost you $45.  That is a mill in this context.

k: You have described a method of arriving at appraised value; the definition of a mill is one-tenth of a cent, like the dictionary said.

Actually, I gave the definition of how to arrive at a taxable value, which is different than an appraised value.  In fact, an appraised value has nothing to do with mills whatsoever as it is normally arrived at by a fee appraiser for purposes of finance or insurance.

That aside, I described the taxable value, which is the only number upon which the mill is actually applied, thus an important part of the definition of the mill.

I described the taxable value…

True, but still not the definition of a mill, which is one-tenth of a cent.

"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

so what exactly is a “mill,” in this context?  i don’t think i’ve ever seen the word used in that way before.

Clearly “i don’t think i’ve ever seen the word used in that way before” implies that the person is familiar with the word.  That’s why they asked “so what exactly is a “mill,” in this context?”

Do you understand yet?

1/10 of a cent is a mill in ANY context.

k_lunch on July 31, 2007 at 02:57 pm

Were you lying then, or are you lying now?

Doesn’t “ANY” context mean this context, as well?  I know you want to show off here, but the definition of a mill is one-tenth of a cent, no matter what the context might be.  Seems simple enough for a reasonable person to understand.

"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

k-lunch: that was definitely some interesting information, but it was also overkill… i was just looking for r108’s answer.  the only “mills” i was familiar with beforehand were, say, windmills or watermills.  i had never seen that word used as a fiscal/economic term before.  although since he pulled at least part of that out of a dictionary, it means that i could have too, had i thought of it.  i thought maybe it was just some strange north dakotan term.

"No Sane man will dance.”—Cicero