News

Understanding the measures on the June election ballot

By Scott Wagar

05/22/2012

Editorial Note: With the upcoming election on June 12, there will be four measures on the ballot, which appear to cause confusion for voters who are trying to figure out what the measures mean. In the next two weeks, the Bottineau Courant will be writing a series about the four measures in hopes of clarifying what the measures contain. This week, the Bottineau Courant writes about Measure 1 and 2.  

When it comes to the June 12, election, there will be four measures on the ballot. The first two measures concern appointments of legislators to a full-time appointive state office and the elimination of state property tax.
The following explains the two measures.

MEASURE NO. 1
 
Measure No. 1 on the election ballot deals with allowing state legislators to be appointed to a full-time appointive state office, which the North Dakota State Constitution does not allow at the present moment.

Present day legislators are prohibited to be appointed to any full-time state office, which was created, or in which compensation was increased, by a legislative assembly during a term a legislator was elected.

Those against the measure feel that legislators will benefit directly if the measure is passed. These same individuals believe the state constitution shouldn’t be amended and that if state legislatures want a state office they should have to apply for the job like any other state resident.

MEASURE NO. 2

Measure 2 is also a constitutional amendment which would abolish property tax in the State of North Dakota.

If passed, the measure will eliminate state property taxes and authorize the North Dakota Legislature to replace the revenue taken in by property taxes from other sources.

A non-patrisian coalition called, “Keep it Local North Dakota”, states that more than 2,000 local governments (city and county governments, school boards and park districts) would need to request funding from the state legislature; meaning that local government would lose control of their local services and have to answer to the legislators.

Those in favor of Measure Two say North Dakota can relay on oil and gas revenues to fund local governments, but Keep it Local states that North Dakota’s history shows that oil and gas revenue is vulnerable to markets and makes it undependable as a tax base.

When voting on Measure 2, a yes vote will abolish property taxes, while a no vote will keep North Dakotans voting in favor of property taxes.

In a recent Grand Forks Herald article on Measure 2, the newspaper conducted a survey on the measure through a research department in Iowa, which stated that 74 percent of the voters surveyed were planning to vote no on the measure, while 26 percent said they would vote yes.