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February 16, 2012
Page 3
N.D. Matters
By Lloyd Omdahl
Wrestling action
Troy Steele of Beach wrestles in the regional high school wrestling tournament Saturday in
Killdeer. Seven Buccaneers participated and five will be going to state. Going to state are:
Talon Nielsen, Troy Steele, Owen Makelky, Mat Gerving and Joe Charleston. The State
Tournament is in Bismarck on Feb. 16-18. (Photo Courtesy of Lisa Gerving)
Totheedb:x
Where is the link to Keystone?
To the editor:
For months now we have been
subjected to report after report
from the news media about our
public officials and candidates
wringing their hands over harm to
North Dakota supposedly caused
by the proposed Keystone XL
pipeline.
But even after all this time there
is information that is not men-
tioned and questions that are not
asked.
First, how is oil going to get
from North Dakota oil fields to the
Keystone pipeline'?
There are not phms for a
pipeline extension from the
Bakken to the proposed Keystone
XL line.
The only connection from
North Dakota was the BakkenLink
pipeline, which had an application
pendim,= before the state Public
Service Commission. "['he pipeline
was to go from Beaver Lodge in
southeast Williams County
through Belfield to Fallon, Mont.
In June 2011 the route was
changed to terminate west of
Belfield at a rail facility at
Fryburg.
Where is the "link" to the
Keystone pipeline in North
Dakota?
The Keystone pipeline is com-
ing from the Athabasca Oil Sands
located in the Canadian province
of Alberta. On Jan. 3. 2012, the
Associated Press reported that the
company announced it sold the
remaining 40 percent of its
MacKay River oil sands develop-
ment to Petro China tot $673 mil-
lion.
Is the Keystone pipeline going
to carry oil owned by China across
the United States to the Gulf? Who
is ,,oin,,, to build the pipeline'? The
U.S.? Canada? China?
In 2005 the Chinese state-
owned CNOOC withdrew a $18.5
billion bid to buy U.S. oil and gas
producer Unocal Corporation after
U.S. lawmakers complained that
tile sale would .jeopardize national
security.
Is national security no longer a
concern'?
We are told all this oil develop-
merit is so we can achieve "energy
independence" and "reduce our
dependence on tbleign oil."
Yet the top export of the United
States is now fuel gasoline,
diesel, and jet fuel. This explains
why our gasoline and diesel fuel
are so expensive.
The more fuel that is sent over
seas. the less supply lhcrc is for
the United States.
In the first 10 months of 2011.
the U.S. exported 848 million bar-
rels of fuel and imported 751) mil-
lion barrels of fuel.
Where b, the "energy independ-
ence" in those numbers? What
happened to "reducing our
dependence on foreign oil" ?
Pat Hedstrup
Fryburg
Measure,2 is well thought out
To the editor:
Have you noticed that most of
those people against Measure 2
(property tax elimination) are on
the recefve and spend side of prop-
erty taxes. As far as 1 can tell, they
are the ones that ride in the wagon.
The average property taxpayer
could be considered the horse that
pulls the wagon. People in the
wagon do pay property taxes, but a
large majority of them feel it's just
an irritating incident that occurs
on Feb. 15. If someone else in the
wagon is upset by their propm;ty
tax, they just negotiate more salary
forth the property tax to pay their
property taxes.
Now the horse (average proper-
ty taxpayer) is a different story.
He has no input into the assessed
value of his property. He is also
on the outside looking in when the
mill levies are established, Paying
the tax is a major financial event
that may or may not get done. But
his job is to pull the wagon, shut up
and make no waves. One could
fail to observe any local control
here. But he is rewarded every
now and then with a new harness to
help with increasing heavy loads.
The tax and spend people are
jumping into tile wagon with state-
ments like "It's only 5 mills - who
can object to that" and " Increased
property values is the Americml
way."
Well the horse is now saying
"enough already. It time to drop
the harness on the State where
money is being stacked in the hall-
ways!" If we dofft, every cocka-
mamie spending idea under the sun
will be funded by the Legislature -
like the absolutely necessary North
Dakota Horse Racing
Commission. Ah. but then what
would the people in tile wagon
have to do when they' are not riding
in tim wagon.
The status quo is so comfortable
and the ruling chlss like the deck
chairs right w'here they are on the
Titanic. Some of our seniors who
have lived here for decades, are
either moving out or being thrown
out because property taxes are
approaching $300 a month. And
don't give me the Homestead
Credit speech - all that does is pass
the obligation on to the rest of us.
Farmers and ranchers are having
their hind values raised statewide -
about 22 percent for pasture and 32
percent for crop land. Does that
equate to higher property tax - no,
but we all know what's coming.
Read the measure. Ycm will
marvel at how well it's thought out.
Leon Mallberg
Dickinson
Great Lakes wolf population delisted
The recent decision by the U,S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to
remove the Great Lakes popula-
tion of gray wolves flom federal
protection might not seem as
important in North Dakota as
some of the other states in the
Midwest. but it is significant
nonetheless.
Stephanie Tucker, North
Dakota Game and Fish
Department furbearer biologist.
said this development is important
because it means tile Great Lakes
population has recovered enough
to no longer warrant protection by
the Endangered- Species Act.
"However, the Great Lakes popu-
lation region delisting only
includes the portion of North
Dakota east of U.S. Highway 83
and the Missouri River. thus com-
.plicating their management status
in our state," Tucker said.
Due to this action, the manage-
ment of wolves found roaming
through the eastern portion of the
state will fall back to the State
Game and Fish Department under
state management guidelines as a
protected furbearer.
The complicating aspect of the
decision is that wolves moving
through western North Dakota
(west of Highway 83 and the
Missouri River) still remain under
federal protection because that
area falls between the Great Lakes
and Rocky Mountain boundaries.
"'Although we do get rare sight-
ings in North Dakota, we don't
have a resident wolf population in
the state, or enough suitable habi-
tat to support one: therefore, we
have no plans to allow a hunting
season on wolves at this point,"
Tucker said. "The upside is that
under state management, we now
have the flexibility to deal with
any issues that may arise with the
occasional transient animals mov-
ing through North Dakota."
State law provides a provision
for landowners to protect their
property from depredation by a
state-managed furbearer.
Therefore, landowners in eastern
North Dakota could shoot a wolf
posing a threat to livestock.
However, west of highway 83 and
the Missouri River, wolves are
still an endangered species under
stricter federal protection.
Subsequently, landowners in that
part of the state must first contact
proper federal authorities before
taking action on their own.
"'Our hope is that in the near
future, additional delisting action
by the Fish and Wildlife Service
Please
support your
local
merchants
will address western North
Dakota," Tucker said. "Then tim
confusion over split management
status in our state will be eliminat-
ed."
Measure r4o. 2 will confound
local gc'.'00rnment finances
More and more local officials
are becoming alarmed over the
impact of Measure #2 on the June
ballot that proposes to repeal all
property taxes and dump the mess
into the laps of tile state legisla-
tors.
Instead of offering specific
solutions to specific problems,
tile sponsors of the measure have
been offering a variety of spe-
cious claims and generalities that
are not snpported by the hmguage
in the proposed constitutional
amendment.
Some have suggested that the
money can be found by firing
12,000 public employees; others
say that the measure will not
require replacement revenue for
local governments. Neither of
these claims is substantiated by
the language in the measure.
Here is the exact language on the
ballot:
"'The legislative assembly shall
direct a share of sales taxes, indi-
vidual and corporate, income
taxes, insurance premium taxes,
alcoholic beverage taxes, mineral
leasing fees, and gaming taxes
and any oil and gas production
and extraction taxes, tobacco
taxes, lottery revenues, and finan-
cial institutions taxes not allocat-
ed to elementary and secondary
schools to counties, cities and
other political subdivisions
according to a formula devised by
the legislative assembly to fully
and properly fund the legally-
imposed obligations of counties,
cities, townships and other politi-
cal subdivisions."
It is clear that this amendment.
if passed, would require the legis-
lature to take money ($800 mil-
lion annually) from the state
treasury and pay local govern-
Some have sug-
gested that the
money can be
found by firing
12,000 public
employees; others
say that the meas-
ure will not require
replacement rev-
enue for local gov-
ernments.
ments for the money lost by the
repeal of the property tax.
All we need to do is look at the
number and complexity of local
governments to understand the
problem in developing a payback
formula. North Dakota has more
local governments per capita than
any other state in the Union.
We have 53 counties, 350
cities, 1100 townships, over 300
fire districts, around 175 school
districts, over 200 park districts,
around 50 soil conservation dis-
tricts, nearly 75 water resource
districts, close to 95 libraries, and
scores of ambulance districts.
Each of these local governments
has a unique financial structure
with varying degrees of reliance
on property taxation.
Take counties, for example.
According to the latest posting by
the State Tax Department,
Bottineau reported an average of
129 mills for the county: Slope
reported 152: Grand Forks report-
ed 379 mills, and Morton reported
363. All other counties tell in
between.
What these figures tell us is
that county governments across
the state have varying needs for
property revenue and they also
have a wide range in the services
they offer their citizens.
Consequently, a simple one-size-
fits-all solution will not work fbr
each and every county govern-
ment. We can bet that schools,
cities, townships and the hun-
dreds of other local governments
have unique budgets as well.
A single solution, such as flat
across-the-board percentage
refunds to all, would give huge
windfalls to some local govern-
ments while short-changing hun-
dreds of others. Because each
political subdivision is unique,
the only fair and rational
approach would be for a legisla-
tive committee or some state
agency to review the budget of
each local government and dole
out money accordingly.
To protect the uniqueness of
local governments, representa-
tives from our 2200 local govern-
ments would have to travel to
Bismarck to justify their budgets
and convince some state entity or
legislative committee that their
budget needs are legitimate. This
process would certainly threaten
local control of local services.
The problem of getting money
required by the measure back to
the local government is only one
problem in this simplistic
approach to state and local
finance offered by Measure #2 .
An arbitrary change of this mag-
nitude requires the deliberative
process of the legislature over a
10-year period.
Committee Seeks Applicant for
State Boa00'(t c ' Higher Education
Dr. Wayne G. Sanstead, chair-
man of the nominating committee
for appoimment to the State Board
of Higher Education, . has
announced that the committee is
seeking applications from persons
interested in serving on the State
Board of Higher Education.
One position will become
vacant July l, 2012. The commit-
tee will meet at 3:30p.m. in the
Office of the Chief Justice of the
North Dakota Supreme Court on
April 2, 2012 and will forward
three nominations for the vacant
position to the Governor's Office.
Any board member appointed by
the governor must be confirmed by
tile 2{)13 North Dakota Senate.
The SBHE is the governing
body for the North Dakota
University System, which includes
tile state's 11 publicly supported
colleges and universities. The
board is comprised of seven men>
bers who serve four-year terms,
one student member, a non-voting
faculty advisor and a non-voting
staff advisor. The vacancy will be
created u;hen the current term of
Put Your Money
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your best value end our economy
February 17, 18, 19
One For the Money
"PG-13"
,. Katherine Heigl and Jason O'Mara
/Laundry Hookups
V' Income Based
V' All Utilities Paid
v' 2 Bdrm Apts for rent
Rental Assistance Available Immediately
board member Michael Haugen,
Fargo expires June 30, 2012/
Other current SBHE members are.
Terry Hjelmstad. Minot; Kirsten
Diederich, Fargo; Claus Lembke.
Bismarck: Duaine Espegard,
Grand Forks: Ricbie Smith,
Wahpeton; Grant Shaft, Grand
Forks: Robert Vallie. student mem-
ber, NDSU; John Girard. non-vot-
ing faculty advisor, Minot; and
Janice Hoffarth, non-voting staff
advisor, Grand Forks.
In addition to Sanstead, who
serves as chairman for the nomi-
nating committee, other members
consist of the President Pro
Tempore Senator Ralph Kilzer,
Speaker, of the House of
Representative David Drovdal,
President of the North Dakota
Education Association Dakota
Draper, and Chief Justice of the
North Dakota Supreme Court,
Gerald W. VandeWalle.
To obtain an applicatkm for the
vacant positions, please contact Dr.
Wayne Sanstead, Department of
Public Instruction, 600 East
Boulevard Ave., Bismarck, ND
58505-0440 or by phone at (701)
328-4572. Along with the applica-
tion, applicants must also submit a
backgrotmd resume and supporting
references. Applications must be
received no later than 5:00 p.m. on
March 21.2012.
1
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