Legacy Fund Strategy Debate Continues
Debates over the best use and original intents of the North Dakota Legacy Fund rage on as the legislature and governor continue to syphon earnings off for pet projects that pretend to be "strategic".
Over the last several years, well known leaders of North Dakota (specifically Former Governor Ed Schafer) have been raising the red flag about the way the Republican Legislature has been handling the management and spending of the Legacy Fund earnings.
This discussion led to the Fargo Forum Editorial Board also chiming in and agreeing with Ed on this issue:
Back in February, the North Dakota News Cooperative did a poll in which 59% of respondents said they would use Legacy Fund earnings as part of the approach to replace property taxes:
The problem with this is that the legislature has already dedicated much of the Legacy Fund earnings to pet projects:
In the 2021 session, a big push was made to funnel Legacy Fund earnings into the “Clean and Sustainable Energy Authority/Fund:
In that session, the legislature also authorized Legacy Fund earnings to be used as the revenue source to pay new bonded debt.
In 2023, I wrote an extensive article on how the various schemes the legislature and Gove…
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