Idaho

How Fargo’s Upcoming Tax Votes Could Affect Your Wallet – InForum

Madoc Meredith August 21, 2024

FARGO — Fargo voters will decide on not one, not two, but three potential tax increases in November. This comes as the city continues to work on a budget that gives its employees a raise, but not at the expense of taxpayers.

This trio of tax votes comes as the Fargo City Commission continues to negotiate its 2025 budget and after the City Commission approved the firefighters union’s sales tax measure to fund Fargo’s emergency responders. Mayor Mahoney expressed skepticism that the public would really be willing to pay more taxes.

“People are fed up with taxes. And how much appetite there is for another tax is the question you ask this commission,” Mahoney said at the Aug. 19 City Commission meeting.

The Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau is asking voters to double the lodging tax from 3% to 6% for 25 years to raise money for a convention center. The Fargo City Commission would have three years to decide where to build the new center or the tax would be eliminated. The bulk of that tax would be on visitors staying in city hotels.

Fargo firefighters have been raising alarm since last year about their struggles to retain staff and remain competitive with other cities, and the city has only added one new police officer to its budget since 2020.

The other sales tax ballot would fund improvements to the Fargodome, which also requires a quarter-percent increase over 20 years.

The city’s current sales tax is 7.5%, which is currently lower than West Fargo and Moorhead.

Five percent goes to the state, 0.5 percent to the county and the other two percent to Fargo.

If both sales tax measures pass, the rate would rise to 8%, the same rate as West Fargo and slightly higher than Moorhead.

With an 8% sales tax, you would have to spend an extra $80. Without those two sales tax increases, it would be $75. That’s $5 for every thousand a person spends. And again, those increases would last for 20 years.

The city currently collects a 2% local sales tax approved by Fargo taxpayers. One percent comes from the infrastructure sales tax that expires at the end of 2028, while the other 1% comes from a flood control sales tax that expires in 2084.