The executive director of the North Dakota League of Cities says while his phone isn’t ringing off the hook, the League is getting some questions from cities about the property tax relief and reform plan.
Matt Gardner said the League has provided some information pro-actively about what the Legislature passed. And he said the League and other organizations are planning a training session in Bismarck this summer.
Gardner said the property tax measure has two sides – the relief side and the reform side.
"The cities are going to deal directly with the reform side, not only from a budgeting standpoint, but also from a technical aspect," Gardner said. "There are different things they are going to have to worry about. And we're diving into that as well, to figure that out."
Gardner said he hopes the finance staff of the cities can be brought up to speed on education and training, so they can operate within the law.
Property tax increases are capped at three percent, unless the local political subdivisions get voter approval in a general election.
Gardner said his organization’s stance wasn’t to oppose caps, but looking for a workable cap. He said three percent is difficult, because every city is different. He said of 355 cities in North Dakota, 307 are under 1000 population.
"For a city like Anamoose, a three percent increase on the tax levy is $600," Gardner said. "That $600 may be a pay increase for a public works guy. But if there was an equipment failure, that's where you would run into challenges. So that's where part of our education comes in, with budgeting and just trying to think long term, of how you can meet your needs, have some reserves, those kinds of things."
Gardner said the cities want to do the right thing when it comes to following the caps.
