Wardner warns McKenzie County BOCC ending property tax would be disastrous
Kristen Jones
Farmer Staff Writer
There is a movement within the State of North Dakota to end property taxes and move the funding that has come from property taxes to be distributed from the state’s budget. Former North Dakota State Senator Rich Wardner gave a presentation to the McKenzie County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to address the problems he foresees if the state’s citizens decide to discontinue property tax.
Senator Dale Patten introduced Wardner, saying, “This is a discussion on the proposed property tax initiative measure that would basically remove property tax from the State of North Dakota and have the state fund it at the state level.
“Taxes typically fund public services and infrastructure. So, when we start talking about tax relief, we say, ‘is the public wanting less services and less infrastructure? Or do they want to have somebody else pay for what they are getting.’ That is the question to ask people: do you want less or are you wanting somebody else to pay for it? And my thinking is that they want somebody else to pay for the services they are getting and the infrastructure that they are getting built. And in this property tax measure, guess who it is they want to have pay for it? McKenzie County, Dunn County, Mountrail County, and Williams County. And Rich (Wardner) will show that to you and he will have some additional information.
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