The ND Media Lobbies to Spend the Surplus
Cross Posted from Taking Back ND
From the Associated Press in The Grand Forks Herald:
On balance I'm in favor of giving the state employees a raise. I'm certainly realist enough to know that give the current budget situation at the state level they will get a raise. My reservations about the raises are based on my belief that only the high performers (top 50%) should get a raise. I don't believe in giving more money to someone because they've been here another year.
Except for some jobs with special requirements, state employees are already well compensated compared to the private sector. If you've tried to hire in the state you know that it's very tough to find people. When you look at the job listings for the state you'll see relatively few job listings compared to the large workforce. We the taxpayers are paying well enough that people in the state are competing to work for the state.
With that said I have a large problem with this article (and others like it) because it's written to give the voters the impression that the budget surplus is spoken for. Nothing could be further from the truth.
North Dakota's economy is growing fast enough to give a raise of 3 and 4 percent to it's workers without tapping into the surplus. The ND Associated press is assuming that the surplus earned in the 2005-2007 biennium will go to pay for salaries in the 2007-2009 biennium. These pay increases will occur in the 2007-2009 biennium. They should be paid out of 2007-2009 revenues. That leaves the current tax surplus available to be returned to the taxpayers who been overtaxed for services received.
These state pay increases sound reasonable. The ND Associated Press is using the reasonable sounding program as an excuse to keep the state surplus in the hands of the government and employees rather than return it to the taxpayers who were overcharged for the services that we received.
In the past I've said that the budget surplus must be returned to the taxpayers in a rebate. If they spend it on new government programs, those programs will cost more in the future requiring tax increases. I've also thought that we should keep tax rates the same. That's because North Dakota's economy grows in fits and starts. (Think about how much tax income is coming in from the oil patch both in extraction and salaries of oil field workers.) However since the liberals in the state are acting in such bad faith I'm beginning to think that we may have to lower tax rates to keep them from forcing the spending issue.
The state budget should only grow due to inflation and increases in population. It should not grow because we taxpayers are working harder and consequently paying more taxes. When you see your state legislator you should talk to him and explain that we want the tax surplus returned to the taxpayers, not hoarded by the state employees. This story said;
We have to be more aggressively in seeing to it that the tax surplus is returnened to the taxpayers whether they be state employees, teachers or private citizens.
Brenarlo pointed out that North Dakota has become a high tax state in this post. Per capita ND pays $2,200 in taxes now. So you family of four is stuck with an $8,800 tax bill. We're paying plenty!
Here's another story I did on North Dakota Media lobbying to spend the surplus.
From the Associated Press in The Grand Forks Herald:
A state worker pay plan has joined the competition for a slice of North Dakota's budget surplus, one of several spending ideas that already are being discussed six months before the Legislature meets.
The plan would increase state employee pay by 3 percent next year and 4 percent in 2008, at a cost of about $17.5 million over two years.
It includes $5 million for agency pay adjustments and would keep fully paid health insurance coverage, which now costs $554 monthly per worker for a family policy. State workers do not contribute a share of the plan's cost, and Hoeven has promised to include the benefit in his budget recommendations to the 2007 Legislature.
Last year, the Legislature approved a 4 percent pay increase for state workers that took effect July 1, 2005, and a second 4 percent rise that takes effect next month. Lawmakers also approved $1.5 million for pay adjustments for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and close to $200,000 for the Highway Patrol.
North Dakota's budget surplus is well over $200 million, and state agencies and interest groups with suggestions on how to spend it are aggressively advancing their ideas, he said.
On balance I'm in favor of giving the state employees a raise. I'm certainly realist enough to know that give the current budget situation at the state level they will get a raise. My reservations about the raises are based on my belief that only the high performers (top 50%) should get a raise. I don't believe in giving more money to someone because they've been here another year.
Except for some jobs with special requirements, state employees are already well compensated compared to the private sector. If you've tried to hire in the state you know that it's very tough to find people. When you look at the job listings for the state you'll see relatively few job listings compared to the large workforce. We the taxpayers are paying well enough that people in the state are competing to work for the state.
With that said I have a large problem with this article (and others like it) because it's written to give the voters the impression that the budget surplus is spoken for. Nothing could be further from the truth.
North Dakota's economy is growing fast enough to give a raise of 3 and 4 percent to it's workers without tapping into the surplus. The ND Associated press is assuming that the surplus earned in the 2005-2007 biennium will go to pay for salaries in the 2007-2009 biennium. These pay increases will occur in the 2007-2009 biennium. They should be paid out of 2007-2009 revenues. That leaves the current tax surplus available to be returned to the taxpayers who been overtaxed for services received.
These state pay increases sound reasonable. The ND Associated Press is using the reasonable sounding program as an excuse to keep the state surplus in the hands of the government and employees rather than return it to the taxpayers who were overcharged for the services that we received.
In the past I've said that the budget surplus must be returned to the taxpayers in a rebate. If they spend it on new government programs, those programs will cost more in the future requiring tax increases. I've also thought that we should keep tax rates the same. That's because North Dakota's economy grows in fits and starts. (Think about how much tax income is coming in from the oil patch both in extraction and salaries of oil field workers.) However since the liberals in the state are acting in such bad faith I'm beginning to think that we may have to lower tax rates to keep them from forcing the spending issue.
The state budget should only grow due to inflation and increases in population. It should not grow because we taxpayers are working harder and consequently paying more taxes. When you see your state legislator you should talk to him and explain that we want the tax surplus returned to the taxpayers, not hoarded by the state employees. This story said;
State agencies and interest groups [have] suggestions on how to spend [the tax surplus, and] are aggressively advancing their ideas.
We have to be more aggressively in seeing to it that the tax surplus is returnened to the taxpayers whether they be state employees, teachers or private citizens.
Brenarlo pointed out that North Dakota has become a high tax state in this post. Per capita ND pays $2,200 in taxes now. So you family of four is stuck with an $8,800 tax bill. We're paying plenty!
Here's another story I did on North Dakota Media lobbying to spend the surplus.
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