In response to Measure 3 and those who are contemplating supporting it:
Many people are trying to treat this like a business move. OK, fine, I agree it is a business move. Let's assume the taxpayers are the loan officer. Show us the cash flow analysis on this. That's what I would have to do if I wanted to start or expand a business. Where is the working capital that is required to float this project? Where will the revenues come from and how long until this business posts a profit?
I really don't think many of you have taken the time to fully consider what this initiative is saying. Basically, you are insulting the intelligence of our college graduates by offering them $1,000 per year to stay here. What world do you live in? Do you honestly think that $1,000 is enough to lure people to stay here? I wouldn't move into my next door neighbors house for a week if you paid me $1,000. Why? Because $1,000 is chump change in today's economy. People go where the jobs are, where the money is. I graduated in 1993 from a small town in central North Dakota. I had a graduating class of approximately 90 people and only one of them remains in that small town. And that is only because he chose to help his father on the farm.
Ask any high school student in this state where they see themselves after college and most will say out of state. Why? Because they all see their parents, each making $30,000 a year and struggling to cover all their bills and mortgage payments and at the same time they see friends in Denver, Minneapolis, Houston, Atlanta, etc., making $60,000-$90,000 annually at a much less labor intensive job. It doesn't take a genius to figure out where they are going to go.
North Dakota businesses are notorious for looking out of state to get CEO's other high- ranking management officials to run their companies. Why not hire our college graduates for mid-level management positions and then groom them to become the next CEO's, CFO's, etc. ..? Offer the tax incentives to the businesses if they hire North Dakota's most valuable resources for $45,000-plus a year career opportunities. Businesses are much more likely to take advantage of the tax break than the students because they are already established and every business likes to save a few dollars everywhere they can.
ADVERTISEMENT
Fargo is probably the best example of what can happen if you have good paying businesses in your town despite having outrageous property taxes and a never-ending assortment of special assessments. They get around it by having a better job market, but still a lot of people just don't make enough here to make ends meet so they head for greener pastures, and who can blame them? Not me!
We need higher paying jobs, that's why we leave the state. Wake up North Dakota and vote "no" on Measure 3.
Schwan, Fargo, can be reached at cschwan@cableone.net
