The North Dakota attorney general's recent ruling concerning the Burleigh County Commission's improper use of $5,000 in public funds to help the symphony's annual Fourth of July celebration could be of great interest to Fargo and West Fargo citizens.
Remember the recent Fargo Commission unanimous vote to use tax increment financing district resources to pay for the private, nonprofit Red River Zoo's $800,000 in special assessments despite the 64 percent vote against funding for a zoo in 1995? Now that will cost the West Fargo School District alone about $480,000. How will this be contributing to being a good neighbor and encourage increased cooperation between the communities public entities? With impulsive decisions like this from the Fargo City Commission, is it any wonder why the residents of McMahon Estates are protesting an annexation from Fargo?
Here's a piece from a Bismarck newspaper article Sept. 25:
"North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem ruled Tuesday that the Burleigh County Commission made improper payments to the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra to help defray the cost of the symphony's annual Fourth of July celebration.
"The ruling also says that a state's attorney has the discretion to recover any money paid by the commission.
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"Burleigh County State's Attorney Richard Riha asked for the attorney general's opinion. Prior to the commission's vote to fund the celebration, Riha had given the commission his own opinion that the donation did not meet criteria laid down by the state constitution.
"Commissioner Marlan 'Hawk' Haakenson requested Riha's opinion and said that it should have been followed. He said the attorney general's opinion 'came down as expected' and that the $5,000 should be paid back to the county."
The Burleigh board members are being ordered to pay the $5,000 expense themselves. If such a ruling were ever found to apply to the Fargo decision, each commissioner's share would be $160,000.
Perhaps the Fargo City Commission should use this opportunity to reconsider and decide if this is the proper use of TIF funds. They could consider the idea of including elected officials of the affected taxing entities of TIF districts in the decision-making process. The school district could have a number of votes representative of the impact of the loss of tax revenue. As it is now, the city of Fargo decides the use of all the increased revenues derived from the TIF though they only are about a 13 percent share of the total tax that is diverted. The school district's share is more than 60 percent, but they have no authority over the matter. Cass County and the Fargo Park District are also impacted with no authority over the TIF.
Whether the Fargo's TIF funding for the zoo is determined legal or not, is it the right way to do it? Does it meet the intent the North Dakota Constitution? Article X, Section 18 of the Constitution says "Neither the state nor any political subdivision thereof shall otherwise loan or give its credit or make donations to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation except for reasonable support of the poor, nor subscribe to or become the owner of capital stock in any association or corporation." Will the public's tax funding affect the private zoo's nonprofit status?
These are the types of questions that should be discussed in a public forum before the final decisions are made. There is still time for this to happen.
Williams, Fargo, was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the Fargo City Commission. He was a leader of a successful effort to end the Fargo School District's unlimited levy power. He can be reached at gofargo@netzero.net
