Scott Hennen’s interview with North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong
FARGO, N.D. – North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong scoffs at concerns from Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn about his property tax relief and reform plans.
Armstrong wants to cap local government spending increases at three percent.
“They want to cap us at three percent, they want to cap the county at three percent, but they don’t want to cap themselves at all. To me, that’s obviously hypocritical. We need to oppose this as strongly as possible because this would be catastrophic,” Piepkorn said at a City Finance Committee hearing.
“I could cap the state. I could get rid of the money for the Fargo airport, for the Red River water supply. I could get rid of the challenge grants for NDSU. I could get rid of the extra money for the homeless problem that exists. We could do that. I think Dave Piepkorn’s constituents would probably have a problem with that. We have to balance our budget every year. We could give Social Services funding back to the municipality. We could get rid of the the 80 percent we pay for K-12 education. I’ve learned a long time ago probably to not take criticism from people I wouldn’t take advice from,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong argues North Dakotans who have seen their property taxes increase don’t care if it’s a local or state issue.
“They’re angry and they want somebody to do something about it. We have proposed something that does something about it. Local elected officials don’t like this, but their constituents are going to love it,” Armstrong explained.
