North Dakota voters could make property taxes a thing of the past

(The Center Square) - North Dakota voters will decide in November if they want to ban cities and counties from levying property taxes.

The North Dakota Secretary of State's office approved a ballot measure Friday sponsored by the group End Unfair Property Tax. They believe the state has a "tremendous" amount of sustainable revenue but that elected officials spend it like "drunken sailors," according to information on their website.

However, another group says the measure could cost $1.329 billion a year. Keep it Local is a coalition of 65 groups, including chambers of commerce, education, energy, agriculture and health care organizations opposing the measure.

"If this does get on the ballot, we're confident that we will defeat it because North Dakotans know that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. North Dakotans believe local governments and local taxpayers are the best to make decisions, not legislators in Bismarck," said Chad Oban, who chairs the group in a June news conference .

If the measure passes, the state would give political subdivisions the same amount of money levied in 2024, which would remove spending power from local governments. The only exception is tax levies for bonded indebtedness.

End Unfair Property Tax challenged the idea that local governments would lose control.

"Locals retain full ability to increase their budgets, whether for one time project spending or general increases, by all of the means present to them currently," the group said on its website . "The legislature must ensure that local subdivisions are not restricted in raising revenues to meet their needs by way of taxes or fees, and additional legislation will be introduced in 2025 to make this even less restrictive."

The measure is one of four on the November ballot. State lawmakers recommended the other three.

Measure 1 would remove language such as "insane" and "feeble minded" when referring to North Dakotans with mental illness or developmental disabilities. The North Dakota Legislature unanimously backed the proposed amendment.

Measure 2 would increase the number of signatures needed to get a measure on the ballot from 4% of registered voters to 5% and limit questions to a single subject.

Measure 3 places limits on withdrawals from the state's Legacy Fund.