If the property tax proposal passes, it would be at least a $3.15 billion blow to the state’s finances.
That’s the figure the Legislative Management Committee is using.
The measure says local property taxes would be replaced with state funds, based on the 2024 property tax assessment. And the Management Committee approved this fiscal impact statement, which will be included with the measure at the ballot box.
Some Legislators worry that this would prohibit local governments issuing general obligation bonds for such things as local schools.
"How are we going to build schools?" said Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Brad Bekkedahl (R-Williston). "I'm sure the public is going to say the state's going to build them. But I don't know that we're obligated to do that in any way, and I don't know if we're going to have the resources to do that in any way."
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Janne Myrdal (R-Edinburg) agreed that the measure could put a real dent in funding some needs. For example, Myrdal said a recent slate of gun violence in Fargo has spurred calls to her committee to do something about it.
"I don't know how we're going to get this communicated clearly out there, because our constituents want tax breaks," Myrdal said. "This is just a sledgehammer of a measure, instead of looking at it with intelligent eyes."
The property tax measure is number 4 on the November ballot.
