On Monday night, Fargo city commissioners voted 3-2 to put a second sales tax measure on the November ballot. If approved by voters, this quarter-cent sales tax for 20 years would help increase wages, staff numbers and facilities for Fargo’s firefighters and police officers. At first blush, it sounds like something the public would and should support.
We all want adequate pay, staffing and facilities for our first responders and those who help keep us safe. But this sales tax proposal is a horrible idea that voters should soundly reject. And here’s why: Nothing is more essential to a city than public safety.
If we don’t have a safe place to live, work and raise our families, nothing else matters. So when a city crafts its budget, just as Fargo is doing right now, adequate pay and staffing for police and firefighters should be the first priority. Instead, Fargo’s proposed budget this year and its approved budgets in recent years have not prioritized adequate funding for the police and fire departments, Instead, Fargo’s budget has ballooned on growing property values and higher taxes and fees, only to spend that added taxpayer revenue on luxury departments devoted to public relations and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Together, those two luxury departments account for much of the money needed to provide raises and more personnel to the police and fire departments. Here’s an example of the winners and losers in recent years: While Fargo has only hired one additional police officer in the past five years, its public relations team has tripled in size during that same period, going from four employees in 2019 to 12 employees today. That department’s employee spending in just the past three years climbed to $590,000 in 2022, $650,000 in 2023, and $916,000 in 2024.
The city’s proposed budget for 2025, which calls for a 11% spending increase over last year, currently allocates more than $1 million in salaries to a $2.1 million public relations department. That’s an average annual salary of more than $83,000 for those 12 employees, not including average annual benefits of $25,600.
Meanwhile, Fargo’s firefighters earn an annual salary of $56,000 to $76,000. Fargo’s police officers earn an annual salary of $60,000 to $89,000. It might be nice to have a fancy car that impresses the neighbors, but if you can’t afford the gas to make it go, it’s probably not a wise use of money.
And that’s why this latest sales tax measure to pay for public safety is so wrongheaded. Police and fire protection are not luxury items for a city. If anything, Fargo leaders should prioritize funding for police and fire departments and ask voters if they want a sales tax to pay for departments devoted to public relations and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn was correct to question how a sales tax measure for public safety might create division within city government. Sure, voters will support police and firefighters. But should those departments be funded differently than, say, the water or street departments? And what happens if at some point voters don’t extend such a sales tax? Do we cut a huge number of police officers and firefighters because we now rely on that funding for them? West Fargo was wrong to start this trend in our area by placing a similar sales tax on its 2022 ballot, which was narrowly approved by voters.
West Fargo’s city budget did not shrink for lack of having to pay for such services. Instead, it was filled with other expenses despite growing tax revenue. Meanwhile, Fargo voters will also be asked to support another quarter-cent sales tax for 20 years to improve and modernize the aging Fargodome.
That measure will face an uphill battle this year now that it will be competing with the sales tax meant to help the police and fire departments. A dedicated sales tax hike to upgrade the Fargodome makes sense because events there bring people to Fargo, where those visitors stimulate the economy and also help pay for a venue from which they benefit. Fargo doesn’t need to pay for police and firefighters with a special sales tax.
It just needs to prioritize public safety as part of its normal budget. Fargo voters should send that message to city leaders in November..
