Several Minot legislators indicated a readiness to sign onto some of outgoing Gov. Doug Burgum’s budget priorities Wednesday, even as they wait to hear the priorities of incoming governor, Kelly Armstrong.

Rep. Matt Ruby of District 40 welcomed Burgum’s comments about reforms.

“I appreciate Governor Burgum’s beliefs about tax relief. The state subsidizes local subdivisions at a high rate and increasing that amount without reform is the wrong approach. We need to take our time this session and vet out every idea to fix property tax to make sure the taxpayers actually see long term relief,” Ruby said.

“Having been involved in the pension reform discussion of the last couple sessions, I agree with an infusion of $200 million to move the PERS (North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System) retirement plan closer to solvency,” he added. “This would be my second priority for spending after providing sustainable tax relief. Taking care of the unfunded liability of the PERS plan is taking care of those public workers who are grandfathered into the now closed defined benefits plan. We made a promise to hold those employees harmless as we transitioned to a more sustainable retirement plan. Anything we can add to this fund ensures these employees have the retirement that was promised.”

Rep. Christina Wolff, a first term legislator in District 38, said the governor’s nearly $19.6 billion budget included more spending than necessary.

“I definitely think that we don’t need to be spending all the money,” she said. “They sound like great ideas, and they probably are great ideas, but it doesn’t mean that we have to fund every project.”

She agreed with his assessment of the state’s efforts to buy down property taxes, though.

“He’s right that we do need to go and talk to our local authorities,” she said.

Rep. Scott Louser of District 5 said he was happy to hear the governor talk about property tax reform. He is introducing a bill to have the state cover the remaining 60 mills of property tax for K-12 education and place a 3% cap on property tax increases by political subdivisions.

“The fiscal note on that is about $300 million but – depending on the district somebody lives in – it’s 25 to 50 percent property tax relief, and in Minot it will be closer to 25 (percent),” Louser said.

He said more than 50 bills could be introduced related to property taxes.

“We always have enough money because we have, in theory, too much taxation. So, tax relief should be our first priority,” Louser said.

Sen. Randy Burckhard of District 5 said his takeaway from the governor’s address is that the state’s biggest challenge remains workforce.

“We’ve made great progress but we still don’t have enough people for the jobs,” Burckhard said. “If we are going to grow, if companies are going to invest here – because we have a great business climate in North Dakota – we have to figure out how to get more people to fill the jobs that we have.”

He keyed on Burgum’s comments that companies win by attracting capital and talent and that the state needs to focus on innovation over regulation. He also agreed with Burgum’s suggestion to bond for large projects if interest rates come down.

Sen. David Hogue of District 38 said he agreed with some of Burgum’s priorities but isn’t supportive of bonding $1.5 billion to finish larger projects.

“I think we have adequate revenues and surpluses to do the projects that need to be done, continuing to fund the next phase of the Mouse River flood control project, NAWS, finishing off the women’s correctional facility,” he said.

Hogue said Burgum’s 3% and 4% employee pay raises over the next biennium may be more generous than the Legislature wants to spend, given the reduction in inflation. With the calls for tax relief, general fund spending of about $5.7 billion is closer to where the Senate might want to settle, rather than Burgum’s proposed $6.5 billion, he added.

Rep. Jeff Hoverson of District 3 said Burgum’s budget address was his most conservative, recommending barely any increases in overall spending.

“I like his citizen portal idea on getting a website where it’s one stop, where you can go to all the government sites in one place,” he said. “I don’t like using the government for workforce development, especially daycare. I think on one hand, he tries to say don’t subsidize, but that’s exactly what he’s promoting.”

Sen. Jose Castaneda, newly elected in District 40, said Burgum offered a great start for a budget.

“There’s going to be a lot of work to do. Property taxes – obviously, that’s something on everyone’s minds,” he said. The $500 property tax break offered last session helped but many people felt it didn’t make much of a difference, he said.

“They felt that they were getting crumbs,” he said. “People elect us to represent their interests, and they feel it’s not in their interest to pay that much property tax.”

Asking the state to fix property taxes when it is local government, not the state, that levies the taxes puts an interesting spin on what is already a complex matter, he noted.

“It’ll be a matter of getting to work and seeing how we can have the best use of constituents’ money,” Castaneda said. “We need to use that money very wisely, so I think that this is very much just the beginning. It’s a start. We have a whole session ahead of use to battle it out, and property taxes will definitely be at the top of that list.”