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Fee study proposed

The Chairman of the North Dakota Senate Finance and Taxation Committee is proposing what he’s calling a major study on fees charged by government agencies.

"There's many fees the state of North Dakota charges," said Sen. Dwight Cook (R-Mandan). "They probably started assessing those fees 50 years ago."

Cook said at the time, the fees were instituted to cover the costs of the service -- but those fees haven't been looked at since.

"Maybe if we looked at some of those fees, we would find it shouldn't be a fee any more," Cook said. "Maybe it should be funded from general fund dollars."

Cook said this study is just to do an in-depth evaluation of all those fees -- and decide whether to keep them, raise them or eliminate them.

Cook said such a study has never been done, to his knowledge.

"The Legislative Council did a study for me, of all the fees the state charges," Cook said. "It just blew my mind. I couldn't believe the number of fees the state levies."

Cook said fees are levied for a specific purpose.

"I always look at 911 fees," Cook said. "In my mind, that should not be a fee any more."

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