UND student government comes out against Measure 4
Student senators weigh in on ballot measure that would eliminate taxes on property values
Members of the UND student government voted to oppose a controversial measure that will appear on the ballot in North Dakota’s upcoming 2024 general election.
The Student Senate voted unanimously in favor of the nonbinding “Resolution in Opposition to Initiated Ballot Measure 4” on Wednesday, Oct. 9, at the Student Senate’s regular meeting.
If approved in the North Dakota general election on Nov. 5, Measure 4 would prohibit municipalities from levying property taxes based on assessed value. The measure also requires the state to provide cities, counties and school districts with funding at the same level as current property taxes do.
Measure 4, according to its official ballot language, does not specify how the state would provide this funding. Additional verbiage in the ballot language estimates the measure would cost the state $3.15 billion for the 2025-27 biennium.
Shortly after Wednesday’s meeting, Student Body President Connor Ferguson was asked if he’d had any doubts the Student Senate’s resolution would pass.
“No, not really,” Ferguson said. “A lot of the students that I have spoken to about Measure 4, when they first hear that it would lower taxes, say it sounds like a really good thing. But then when they start discussing what property taxes actually pay for, it starts to sound like less and less of a good idea.”
Ferguson, along with Laila Kantarevic, on-campus apartments senator, wrote the resolution opposing Measure 4.
Tanner Earsley, senator from the Nistler College of Business & Public Administration, said he was “passionate” about opposing Measure 4. He also said that the tax rate on owner-occupied housing in North Dakota is a little under the national average, and that other states aren’t moving to eliminate property taxes.
Like other senators at Wednesday’s meeting, Earsley questioned where the state would find the funds needed to operate municipal governments.
“I think it’s important that we say no on this sort of thing, because there’s no plan, and no plan is a bad plan,” Earsley said.
The student government resolution also “urges the North Dakota Student Association and the Student Government Associations of the 11 public institutions of North Dakota to draft resolutions in opposition to Initiated Constitutional Ballot Measure 4.”
According to a North Dakota Monitor report, Measure 4 was sponsored by former Republican State Rep. Rick Becker and the End Unfair Property Tax group. The group wants restraint in government spending and, among other suggestions, calls for using interest on the Legacy Fund — the state’s pot of revenue generated from taxes on oil production — to support municipal funding in lieu of property taxes.
Another recent Monitor report covered a debate between supporters and opponents of Measure 4. In that report, supporters say the measure would get rid of an unfair tax structure and stimulate growth in the state. Supporters also say municipalities can raise revenues in other ways, such as a bus tax for schools, road fees or even property taxes not based on assessed value.
Opponents in the Monitor report say the measure will require North Dakotans to pay more in new sales or other taxes, in order to make up for the lost property tax revenue. Opponents also say the measure simply goes too far, given that there is no specified method for replacing the lost tax revenue.
Editor’s note: The University of North Dakota does not contribute to nor take an official position on resolutions passed by the student government.
