North Dakota: Let the Good Times Roll
I know you guys are probably sick of hearing my cheer leading for my home state, but as The Greatest Mohammed Ali said: it ain't braggin' if it's true!
Seriously, there's a lot to be learned from analyzing the why's and what-for's of North Dakota's economy. Some things can be emulated, others cannot. A goodly portion is simply "right place, right time" -- at the moment. We tend to lag behind the rest of the nation in good times and bad, so we could tank later this year or next. However, North Dakota as a population/business community/governing body definitely thinks and acts differently from most of the rest of the nation (our neighboring states being slight exceptions), and this has a major impact on how we handle a crisis situation. Or a boom. There's a saying that North Dakota is never as good as the rest of the country, or as bad as the rest of the country. We pretty much ride the middle, which in this case has turned out to be pretty good.
I do route sales. My (tiny by national standards; top 15 in the state at under 10K people) city/territory had an economic increase in sales tax of 12% last year, and it continues. My job is directly impacted by downturns, and I discovered that sales on my route had dropped by a quarter to a third in March of last year (I started in April of this year). But I continue to see gains in sales and fully expect to recover to the "normal" level -- and beyond -- by the end of this year, if things stay status quo.
Now on to the relevant news item: from the Wall Street Journal...
In the legislative session ended last month, North Dakota lawmakers shifted more of the responsibility for funding education to the state and required local governments to reduce property taxes proportionately, saving taxpayers $295 million. Individuals and businesses also received about $100 million in income-tax cuts. At the same time, lawmakers increased spending on K-12 and college education, health care, infrastructure and other programs.
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Some lawmakers say their job actually becomes tougher in boom times. "When the bank account is flush, people just are very skeptical when we say, 'We don't have enough money to do this,' " said state Sen. Ray Holmberg, a Republican from Grand Forks.
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Some argue that North Dakota could spend more of its surplus today without jeopardizing the future. State Sen. Tracy Potter, a Democrat from Bismarck, criticized the Republican-dominated legislature for failing to substantially expand children's health insurance during its recent session. "Things like that are not just poor choices, but really dumb," he said.
The state plans to spend $8.85 billion over its next two-year budget cycle, almost 37% above its current $6.48 billion budget. "I think our expenditures cannot continue to go up at the same rate that they went up this year," said Pam Sharp, the state's budget director. Much of the spending is targeted at one-time outlays, she said.
The comments to the article are very interesting as well.
BTW, I live a few miles from the center of population for the state. There's a herd of cattle there, LOL.
Seriously, there's a lot to be learned from analyzing the why's and what-for's of North Dakota's economy. Some things can be emulated, others cannot. A goodly portion is simply "right place, right time" -- at the moment. We tend to lag behind the rest of the nation in good times and bad, so we could tank later this year or next. However, North Dakota as a population/business community/governing body definitely thinks and acts differently from most of the rest of the nation (our neighboring states being slight exceptions), and this has a major impact on how we handle a crisis situation. Or a boom. There's a saying that North Dakota is never as good as the rest of the country, or as bad as the rest of the country. We pretty much ride the middle, which in this case has turned out to be pretty good.
I do route sales. My (tiny by national standards; top 15 in the state at under 10K people) city/territory had an economic increase in sales tax of 12% last year, and it continues. My job is directly impacted by downturns, and I discovered that sales on my route had dropped by a quarter to a third in March of last year (I started in April of this year). But I continue to see gains in sales and fully expect to recover to the "normal" level -- and beyond -- by the end of this year, if things stay status quo.
Now on to the relevant news item: from the Wall Street Journal...
In the legislative session ended last month, North Dakota lawmakers shifted more of the responsibility for funding education to the state and required local governments to reduce property taxes proportionately, saving taxpayers $295 million. Individuals and businesses also received about $100 million in income-tax cuts. At the same time, lawmakers increased spending on K-12 and college education, health care, infrastructure and other programs.
...
Some lawmakers say their job actually becomes tougher in boom times. "When the bank account is flush, people just are very skeptical when we say, 'We don't have enough money to do this,' " said state Sen. Ray Holmberg, a Republican from Grand Forks.
...
Some argue that North Dakota could spend more of its surplus today without jeopardizing the future. State Sen. Tracy Potter, a Democrat from Bismarck, criticized the Republican-dominated legislature for failing to substantially expand children's health insurance during its recent session. "Things like that are not just poor choices, but really dumb," he said.
The state plans to spend $8.85 billion over its next two-year budget cycle, almost 37% above its current $6.48 billion budget. "I think our expenditures cannot continue to go up at the same rate that they went up this year," said Pam Sharp, the state's budget director. Much of the spending is targeted at one-time outlays, she said.
The comments to the article are very interesting as well.
BTW, I live a few miles from the center of population for the state. There's a herd of cattle there, LOL.