News

Taylor makes stop in Bottineau

By Scott Wagar

10/30/2012

Democratic governor candidate, Ryan Taylor, has spent the election going across the state conducting Town Hall meetings to get the word out as to why he wants to be the next governor of North Dakota.

On Saturday, Taylor came to Bottineau and spoke on a variety of subjects about North Dakota he would like to see change to assist the people of the state.

Taylor held his Town Hall meeting at Bottineau’s Tech Center and discussed issues on oil impact, agriculture, education, law enforcement, property taxes and the state’s money surplus of 6.1 billion dollars.

“We (Taylor and his running mate for the Lt. Governor’s office, Ellen Chaffee) started this election knowing that every community in North Dakota is important and we’ve talked about me being the people’s governor, because every person in North Dakota is important,” said Taylor, who was first elected to the State Senate in 2002 and is a fourth generation farmer in Towner. “So, the governor’s race should come to the towns of North Dakota, towns like Bottineau.

“When we look at issues confronting the state I see North Dakota is changing. We have tremendous amount of opportunities, but we have challenges that come with the opportunity,” Taylor added in his greeting to the residents of Bottineau. “Opportunities put at our feet because of oil beneath the ground, and soil that is at our feet with the crops that we raise. This surplus that we all look at, and know that it is there in Bismarck, has it credit but not with any one in public office, it is there because of resources. No one in this election is old enough to have created oil and no one in this race can take credit for the good crops and markets we have had.”

Taylor went on to state that in the past ten years senators in the state’s upper house has seen the changes coming to North Dakota, which concerned them because they want the opportunities to come to the state, but they did not want the quality of life to change in North Dakota.

“With population growth, oil impact and sense of safety, we started to roll out policy on these things,” he said. “I don’t want our sense of community to change. I believe North Dakota isn’t defined by our budget surplus, it is defined by our sense of community.”

With quality of life being important to Taylor, he stated a number of issues are important to him in the governor’s race.

“When it comes to the $1.6 billion in Bismarck, I think a lot of people from North Dakota are asking if it really need to be there, or, should it be there because it didn’t come for free. When you look at communities in the west that are struggling, they are struggling with schools, law enforcement, child care, housing. They are struggling with all these issues because of a commodity only the state can tax oil,” Taylor said. “Did you know that only 11 percent of the taxes stay in these communities? The state taxes 11 and a half percent of the value of oil and 11 percent of those taxes stay in the communities, the rest of the taxes go to Bismarck.”

Taylor pointed out that in Montana 39 percent of the oil taxes stay in the community, while in Colorado they leave 63 percent of that tax money.

“And yet, here in North Dakota, we are taking 90 cents out of every dollar and sending it to Bismarck,” Taylor continued to state. “In my campaign, I am advocating that 40 percent of these dollars stay in the community. That is four times as much as we are leaving today.

“And, what does that mean for a town like Bottineau where you don’t have that impact? If we leave that money here up front, we are preventing problems in a more efficient way to handle the cost,” Taylor added. “And, if oil development comes to Bottineau at the same pace you don’t want to have to go to Bismarck to fix these problems, you will have access right up front. You can prevent problems.”

Taylor also spoke about Legacy Fund in the state, which sets aside 30 percent of state revenue.

“The $1.6 billion are dollars that are accessible beyond the Legacy Fund,” he said. “We have infrastructure needs in North Dakota, which includes $811 million in township and county roads across North Dakota, $300 some million outside the oil patch. These are county and township roads which we depend on to get our crops to market, we depend on them to get our cattle to market, and these dollars are sitting in Bismarck.”

Taylor stated that the current administration likes to use a zero increase budget policy, which he feels isn’t keeping the state free of criminal activity and its residents safe.

“If we are going to have the same law enforcement that we had in 2009 on a per capita basis we are going to need 143 more officers,” he said. “And, you don’t do that on a zero increase budget.”

When it came to the future of North Dakota after the oil has been pumped away in the state, Taylor turned to education.

“What will we do after the oil is gone 20 or 30 years from now? We have to start investing today in the minds and work force of our state with these excess dollars in education. We need to start investing money in head start, pre-k, k through 12 and colleges like the one in Bottineau,” he said. “Did you know North Dakota is one in ten states that do not fund for head start. One in eleven states that do not fund pre-k in public schools and one in 11 who do not fund for Capital Construction k through 12 schools in the state? So, if you need an addition to a school, classrooms, need to modernize or build a new school the only place communities can go to is the local property tax owner or bonding. And yet, we are the wealthiest state in the nation and we have schools that need to be expanded because we have a lot of families coming in with kids.”

Taylor also touched on property tax relief.

“I am suggesting that we use a Homestead Tax Credit of $100,000. If you have a home in Bottineau that is $150,000, you would be able to take $100,000 off the true and full value, which is a two-thirds cut. We can afford to do that,” Taylor said.

Taylor ended the Town House Meeting by stating that he and Chaffee doesn’t expect the people’s vote through expectation, but through them working hard for the people.

“We are not expecting people to vote for us,” he said. “We are expecting to earn their votes.”

To learn more about Taylor and Chaffee, go to www.taylorfornd.com.