The Legislature is looking at a proposal for the state to take over about half what counties budget for in social services.
That’s something the counties have been requesting for some time.
"We did some rough calculations, and it would -- out of our $2.3 million human services budget, would have the state take over funding about $775,000 of that," said Morton County Commissioner Bruce Strinden, a member of the North Dakota Association of Counties Legislative committee. "It would effectively drop our mills by about half."
Strinden says he doesn’t think it’s fair that these are state and federally-mandated programs – and the counties have to write the check.
"This is reel property tax relief," said Strinden.
The bill is pending in the Senate Human Services Committee.