As I stepped off the city commission in June of 2022, City Administration was pushing forward with the idea of increasing our city sales tax to fund a portion of the operational costs around the police and fire department. This effort will be on the ballot this November for voter approval, and I strongly recommend people vote no. It’s not a vote against our police … Continue reading West Fargo Sales Tax Measure
Too many things have become political and divisive in this country and that has crept into local government. As an elected city official I think it’s important to separate the decisions where public input is important versus the decisions that are simply a question of right versus wrong. On March 15, 2021 the West Fargo City Commission ignored doing what is right for political reasons. … Continue reading More thoughts on Special Assessments
I’ve written about the topic of annexation before and how it impacts Special Assessments. Let me start by saying Special Assessments suck. However, it’s the tool we have today to pay for our city infrastructure needs and if we are going to use them, we need to make sure we strive for making the assessments as fair as possible. How would you feel if the … Continue reading Annexation and Special Assessments
Last night the West Fargo City Commission had additional discussion related to a 3-2 vote to purchase 5 homes on (or adjacent to) Sheyenne Street in our last Commission meeting of 2020. This topic has certainly gotten the attention of many West Fargo residents who are questioning various aspects of this decision. I wanted to put my thoughts together on why I strongly support moving … Continue reading Sheyenne Street Development
During our West Fargo City Commission meeting on December 21, 2020 I shared an idea for Covid relief targeted at local small businesses. The idea is pretty simple…to send each household in West Fargo a $25 gift card that is only redeemable at West Fargo area businesses. The approximate $400,000 would come out of Economic Development Sales Tax which currently has a balance of over … Continue reading West Fargo Covid Relief
I’ve written a few blogs about the annexation issue related to Special Assessments; my common example is the Red River Valley Fairgrounds. The Fairgrounds are not in the city of West Fargo although they use our water, sewer, garbage, and you can’t get there without driving on West Fargo roads. So, when Main Avenue was rebuilt a number of years ago they didn’t have to … Continue reading Issues with Special Assessments
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