(West Fargo, ND) — All five candidates for the West Fargo City Commission spoke on several campaign priorities in a debate hosted by WDAY Radio and AM1100 The Flag.
The candidates include Amy Zundel, DeAnn Reed, John Severson, Rory Jorgensen, and Tyler Erickson. They all spoke on a wide range of topics, including special assessments, property taxes, housing concerns, if the city can afford to grow, and more.
Going into depth on special assessments, the candidates had multiple positions on their validity and if they should stay as the primary way to assist in funding specific infrastructure projects. Amy Zundel and Tyler Erickson stated specials would require some kind of state intervention in order for them to be eliminated, with each saying there is no feasible way to do it at this time.
“If you think special assessments are going to be eliminated, I can rest assured, with certainty, that it will be replaced with another tax.” said Erickson.
“Year after year, election cycle after election cycle, we have people who want to promise they are going to get rid of specials, it simply isn’t possible anytime now in this day and age.” said Zundel.
Other candidates were either partially or completely against special assessments. John Severson, DeAnn Reed, and Rory Jorgensen.
“There are other options. It could be a century-old problem [but] it doesn’t matter, we got to find a way to change it, to make it different, to do something, anything. It doesn’t matter, the best thing to do in any situation is the right thing, the worst thing to do is nothing.” said John Severson.
“North Dakota is the number one state per capita that special assesses. West Fargo and Horace are the number one-two cities that special assess, more than any other city in the United States of America,” said DeAnn Reed
“You can look at what Rilies Acre’s does. They’re $100,000 lots but don’t have specials. That same square footage of dirt is $50,000 – $60,000 West Fargo and it has specials on it…[If] you don’t want to call it special assessments, come up with a name for it but that money has to be coming from somewhere,” said Rory Jorgensen
You can watch the full debate among the candidates by clicking here. Alternatively, you can click the video below.
