Minot City Council members have collectively voiced their dislike for the local government spending caps being bandied about in the North Dakota Legislature. The council hesitated Tuesday to send a message of protest to the state Capitol but ultimately agreed to draft a letter.

The council voted 6-1 to direct the city manager to work with the city’s public information office to prepare a letter to be signed by the council.

Although he said he opposes a cap, Mayor Tom Ross initially questioned whether the council should take a position when legislators are still paring down the number of bills.

“For me, it may be too early to send that message to Bismarck,” he said. The council decided to wait, but after giving it some thought, council member Scott Samuelson presented a motion later in the meeting stating the city opposes any legislative caps on local budgets or property taxes.

“I would never have believed in a million years that I would make this motion, but I do believe that government locally making decisions is the best. It’s not for the state to make the decisions for us and it’s not for national leaders to make it for us,” Samuelson said. “I believe that later is too late. I believe now is the time to tell them we need to go in a different direction.”

“I don’t know that there is a time that is too early or too late to let them know,” council member Rob Fuller said. He suggested legislators might not pursue a cap if they know cities don’t want them.

“I think the Legislature is getting some pushback on the cap approach, or at least that they need to modify it in some way,” council member Mark Jantzer said. “Maybe getting some additional input at this time isn’t all bad. They realize that is kind of a sticking point.”

Council member Lisa Olson initially had suggested waiting until legislators reduced the number of property tax bills, giving the city better information about where the Legislature may be heading on reform. She cited lack of public input in casting the only vote against Samuelson’s motion.

“I don’t think it is right tonight that we drop this political bomb without hearing anything from anyone else in our community,” she said. “We are creating a motion that sends a message to Bismarck – representative of the almost 50,000 people that live in Minot – and I don’t think that it’s right to not give them the opportunity to tell us what message we want to send to Bismarck.”

Ross said the sentiment at a North Dakota League of Cities meeting from municipalities present was that a levy cap is inevitable so the focus should be on the amount of that cap. Gov. Kelly Armstrong has proposed a 3% cap as part of a bill to eventually buy down property taxes on primary residences to zero.

Fuller said his hope is Minot’s lead will prompt more cities to step forward to oppose levy and budget caps.

Council member Mike Blessum said the only real path to lowering costs from a tax perspective is electing people who care about doing exactly that.

“It really isn’t up to the state to fix this for us. We have to choose to do this locally,” he said. “We have to decide what level of service we are willing to provide and at what cost.”

Blue lights show support

Minot Mayor Tom Ross has asked the Minot community to display blue lights in their windows through February as a show of support for Minot’s Police Department and other first responders.

“I want all our officers to turn a corner and see a light of support,” he said during the Minot City Council meeting Tuesday. He extended the request to businesses, churches, schools, homes and public buildings.