Coalition Forms to Promote Renewal of Sales Tax

The Fargo Forward Coalition says their main goal is to educate voters regarding how exactly their lives would change for the worse if they were to let this tax lapse.

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – The Fargo Forward Coalition may technically be a new organization, but the enthusiasm its co-chairs have for the penny infrastructure sales tax in the city is not.

“In 2006, I was one of the almost 70% of Fargo voters who voted ‘yes’ on the infrastructure sales tax idea,” said co-chair Deborah Frederickson.

The group, comprised of business owners and long-time residents, extolled the commonly-cited virtues of the tax, namely that it keeps special assessments and utility bills low and spreads the cost of projects around to visitors and tourists.

“The numbers we have say about half of that sales tax is paid by outsiders,” said co-chair John Gunkelman.

They also reiterated that this is not a new tax, or even an increase, given that the proposal is that it remains at just one cent.

“This was one penny twenty years ago. Think of the inflation rate – the percentage is much lower,” explained co-chair Tami Norgard. “We’re being very reasonable in just asking that it get extended.”

The coalition says they are aware of the natural instinct to vote down any “tax”, so they’re focusing on education, letting folks know that turning this down would actually hurt their pocketbooks in the long run.

The coalition says that in 2024 alone, the tax generated approximately $34 million for core infrastructure.

The ballot measure to extend the tax will require a vote of at least 60% in June to pass.