I read with dismay in the Oct. 7 issue of The Pioneer the headlines about “More Taxes Coming” and “School Talks Budget Woes.”
Revenue shortfalls caused by decreases in property valuations, decreasing state aid from a loss of 30 percent in oil and gas revenues, state and local tax shortfalls and an increase in cost of services were blamed by the Bowman County Commission. The income from payments made by the Bureau of Land Management dropped precipitously as well. But he County Commissioners made it sound like it all happened almost overnight, catching them unaware and with little time to prepare for alternate action. Their solution was to raise taxes on the folks living in Bowman County. Commissioner
Lynn Brackel said that if a poor economic climate were to continue, the county would have to cut employees and services. If a poor economic climate were to continue? Are you kidding? Where have these folks been for the last two years or more? I can tell you in simple terms. They were handing money out to every Tom, Dick and Harry for frivolous adventures just like Granny handing out candy at Halloween. Oh, but it’s for economic development they say, or the traditional “if we don’t spend it, we lose it” argument. So now, here we are, facing an additional $272,000 for a 2017 budget of 1.7 million dollars. With a decreased centrally assessed property income, insufficient state aid, no way to reclaim taxes from closed businesses, what do they do? Raise taxes. Raise taxes on property owners and on folks with fixed income, with no consideration of any cuts beyond a miserable 5 percent (well maybe in the future if a poor economic climate persists). This situation did not happen overnight, the warning signs were flashing all over the place, and the commission were spending our tax dollars like drunken sailors (sorry for the mention, sailors) with no regard for any fiscal discipline.
To be fair, hardly anyone attended the budget hearings, including me. No one raised a voice to say no, much less “hell no”. We will take some blame of the current situation. And we’ll pay the taxes and we will gripe about it. But the majority of the blame rests on those handling the money and making decisions for us. We trusted the County Commission to do the right thing when we voted. We were betrayed.
And the Bowman School District board members? Don’t think I’m ltetting you off the hook. You get 48 percent of the tax dollars and you recently approved a new track that cost at least four or five buckets of money to have a track that would make any Division II college drool over. Are you crazy? I know you want to provide the best for the students, but don’t you think that you owe the tax payer a little fiscal restraint?
Oh, I know the old track was in bad shape and dangerous to run on and needed some help, but at a cost in the high six figures? Come on, now. Will that track bring back revenue? Will it get Susie or Tommy a $250 track scholarship that won’t make it past the first aisle in the college bookstore?
I propose funding a good portion of nonessential county spending with user fees. If you want a particular service, you pay for it. I say make some hard decisions about cuts in the budget and not a paltry 5% reduction either. Exercise some restraint, have the courage to say “no, we can’t afford it.”
Citizens, it’s high time the tax payers demand a referendum on any future tax increases.
- Bart Fisher
(Former Bowman resident)
