Ashley Gulke, Miranda Schuler, Shelly Weppler, Jedidiah Rader and Jim Rostad participated on the candidates panel hosted by the Minot Area Chamber EDC on Thursday. They are vying for three open seats in the Nov. 5 election.

Candidates weighed in on the proposed 2025 budget the commissioners planned to finalize today.

“This is a lean budget. It’s a very lean budget. It’s hard to say where you would cut from,” Schuler said. “There is one thing in this budget, though, that I do have concerns about.”

She cited the commissioner pay, which she called excessive at $23,000 a year. There is an allotment for health insurance for the part-time positions, although the county is not offering health insurance for other part-time employees, she said.

Jill Schramm/MDN Ashley Gulke, left, answers a question during the Ward County Commission candidate forum Thursday as Miranda Schuler listens at right.

Regarding the overall budget, Schuler said, “I don’t believe there’s any programs I would necessarily cut. I believe we need to focus on the critical infrastructure. I believe the job of government is to provide the critical infrastructure and the services that are needed.”

Rader said the county needs to fund the basics.

“We need to make sure we have good roads. We need to make sure we fund the State Fair,” he said. “The second thing we need to do is we need to not grow government. The more buildings we build, the more people we hire, we are growing government and increasing the tax burden.”

Rader questioned the 6% salary increase, noting the private sector doesn’t give raises at that level.

“I’m not saying they aren’t worth it. I’m saying what are we going to cut to cover that?” he said. “We just need to use the people’s money wisely.”

“I certainly don’t want to live in a basic community. I want to live in a community that’s thriving, meeting the needs of people who live here” Gulke said.

She said it appeared the county did not follow a pay structure suggested by a salary study, resulting in law enforcement officers being paid 14% less than officers similarly situated in other counties.

“To me, that’s a little bit of a disgrace, and I think that it’s appropriate that there was an increase in those wages, particularly for members of the sheriff’s office,” she said. “Paying your employees competitively is important, and if you are going to pay for a pay study, by all means follow the advice of the professionals.”

Weppler said the county commission has been looking for budget cuts every year, including this year.

“Immediately, from day one, we were cutting,” she said. “Before we had the preliminary budget out, we’d had a lot of hard cuts.”

Weppler said she is looking at ways to bring more money to local governments. She has offered a resolution to the North Dakota Association of Counties calling on state government to reimburse local governments for the properties that are property tax exempt under state law, such as properties used for hospitals or other charitable uses.

Rostad said he supported the 6% salary increase because economic development involves providing good services, which requires employee retention.

Rostad said the commission has put a lot of thought and hard work into the proposed budget and he is satisfied with where it stands.

“I plan on supporting the budget,” he said.

Roads were high on the list of items candidates would look to fund.

“I don’t know of a more direct tie to the economy than people’s inability to get where they need to go, to do the work they need to do,” Gulke said.

Schuler said during her time on the city council, she heard most about snow removal and roads so that’s where emphasis needs to be. However, she also listed the importance of advancing the southwest corridor project “to entice additional development, whether it be residential or commercial, and to provide additional safety for the motorists.”

Weppler listed her top priority as finding resources other than property taxes to fund county services, such as the resolution she proposed.

She also mentioned the bond money being redirected to roads after paying off construction on the jail and county office.

“We’ve been waiting for this day, so we’re very excited to get that,” she said, noting it will help with moving ahead with the southwest corridor.

“The biggest thing as commissioners we can do to help the local communities is to make sure they can keep as much of their money as humanly possible,” Rader said. “So, especially if Measure 4 passes, that will be a great boost to the economy because it will give them their property taxes back, which will really help their income as well.”

Rostad said his priority if elected would be to do what he’s done for the past eight years in being well prepared for commission meetings and fulfilling his duties to the departments he supervises. He would aim to continue to be well informed on what’s going on in the county, he said.