When Lisa Carlson's property tax bill was dissected, nothing really caught her by surprise, except for the 1 mill that every property owner pays to the University of North Dakota Medical School.

"You have to decide if those services are important," she said. "I don't feel the taxes are extremely out of bounds. How efficiently all those agencies use the money, I don't know. I would hope they are efficient."

Homeowners likely have seen their 2002 tax bill. And if you want to take advantage of a 5 percent early payment benefit, you need to pay by Feb. 15. In Burleigh County, most everyone does; more than 90 percent according to county treasurer Bev Bettenhausen.

Tax bills have a breakdown on where your money goes, in general terms. If you own a home in Bismarck, you'll find that 56.8 percent of the money goes to Bismarck Public Schools, 21.6 percent goes to the city, 13.5 percent goes to the state and county, and 8.1 percent goes to parks and recreation.

"I probably would have guessed most of it would go to schools," Carlson said.

It's been that way for at least 20 years. According to the Burleigh County Tax Office, the school district garnered 52 percent of the pie in 1992 and 50 percent in 1982. The city got 24 percent in 1992 and 32 percent in 1982. The state and county took 16 percent in 1992 and 12 percent in 1982. And the park district got 8 percent in 1992 and 6 percent in 1982.

Lisa and Clare Carlson own a home on North First Street in Bismarck, valued at $99,800 according to tax records. After taking advantage of the 5 percent discount, the Carlsons paid $2,058.73 in property taxes for 2002, which is just a little below what most residents in Bismarck pay.

According to the 2000 Census, the median home value in Bismarck was $98,900, which means half the homes are more expensive and half are less expensive. According to real estate agents in Bismarck, the average home is valued at about $115,000.

In breaking down Carlson's tax bill, she found that $1,169.36 went to the school district, which may seem like a lot considering that the Carlsons have no children. And most of that amount goes into the general fund, which is mainly used for salaries and benefits. More specifically, 82 percent goes toward teacher pay, or $824.63 of Carlson's tax payment.

But Carlson, who spent a short time as a teacher, said the investment is important.

"I would hope to get some benefit from educating our kids," she said. "I've always thought education is important."

Bismarck Public Schools business manager Ed Gerhardt said 43 percent of the district's budget comes from property tax.

The rest of Carlson's tax payment breaks down as follows: $444.69 to the city, $277.93 to state and county, and $166.76 to parks and recreation.

The bulk of the city payment goes toward the general fund, which covers such things as police and fire protection. In the county, the sheriff and jail get the bulk of the money. Parks and recreation, which gets about one-third of its funding from property tax, spends a little more than one-third of that on salaries and wages.

Carlson pays $81.64 for police, $56.24 for fire, $34.66 for sheriff and $21.51 for jail service.

Some of the services "may not have a direct effect on me, but I would hope there would be some benefit," she said.

Since most Burleigh County residents take advantage of the 5 percent discount, and because some people neglect to pay their property tax, most agencies budget at about 92 percent of the expected mill levy income.

Burleigh County collects most of its taxes, however. Bettenhausen said uncollected taxes for 2001 totalled $1 million, which is only a 1.5 percent delinquency rate of the anticipated $64 million to be collected.

"We don't see it as a real great problem," she said.

(Reach reporter Mark Hanson at 250-8264 or mark@ndonline.com.)