Dakota Beacon

“We’ve worked hard for our prosperity and now it’s time to make our prosperity work for us.” -- Gov. Jack Dalrymple recommending the largest budget in state history to the ND Legislature. His total budget request, including federal aid, was $12.8 billion for two years, an increase of 29 percent. Ongoing general fund revenue for the 2013-15 biennium is estimated to be $4.8 billion while ongoing expenditures are $3.8 billion. An additional $1 billion was recommended for one-time investments in oil patch roads.

While there was generally good reaction to the proposed budget, the outside edges of both parties expressed concern. Conservative Republicans are worried that spending increases jeopardize the future of the state. They point to Minnesota which one commentator called “the land of 10,000 taxes.” Liberal Democrats believe the budget contains too much relief for business and insufficient spending on social services.

The chief of the ND University System has bold goals. Hamid Shirvani requested 30 additional employees for his central staff. It is expected that the Legislature will see the request as too much, too soon and could easily cut the staff request in half. Lloyd Omdahl rose to defend the hike saying, “Half will make the ‘big agenda’ a ‘small agenda’.” Omdahl sees the larger staff as essential to reform; the Legislature is likely to view it as bureaucratic.

Last August I wrote that ND and SD seem like two peas in a pod to the outside world -- demographically and economically similar. I said it will be interesting to see if ND’s oil boom causes the economies of the two states to diverge. Since that time, economic data for 2011 has become available and it’s apparent that ND is pulling away -- SD may soon be in the rearview mirror. Herald columnist Tom Dennis gave some examples: “In North Dakota in fiscal year 2011, higher education was a $1.2 billion budget item; in South Dakota, the comparable number was $691 million.“ There was a similar relationship in total expenditures. Budget proposals for 2013 and beyond indicate the gap will widen significantly.

“Rainy Day Funds” at three oil producing states are the highest in the nation as a percentage of annual state expenditures -- Alaska (286%), ND (80%) and Wyoming (48%) lead the nation. By way of contrast, South Dakota was 9%, still well above the median average state.

This week most ND papers had articles and editorials about Sen. Kent Conrad who is concluding 26 years in the U.S. Senate. The tone of the articles was similar to an editorial comment by Mike Jacobs in the GF Herald: “In more than a quarter century of service, Conrad has gained a reputation as a serious and intelligent deficit hawk.” Deficit hawk though he may be -- Conrad seems to set that view aside when snagging appropriations for his home state.

Uh, oh, well maybe. Fargo officials are considering the purchase of a $350,000 snow melting machine. The “big bath tub” would cruise into your cul-de-sac, melt the snow and flush it down the sewer. The Director of Public Works said the machine could pretty well eliminate his fleet of snow removal trucks.

Reverberance is considered the “12th man” for NDSU football teams in the Fargodome. Overflow crowds and hard, reflective surfaces create a din that distracts visiting teams and gives nearly everyone else a headache. The Bison beat Wofford College 14-7 in the dome to advance to a semifinal game against Georgia Southern, to be held today in the noisy Fargodome.

An article headed “The Cities Where Everyone Has a Job” began with a bleak picture of Broadway in Fargo during a blizzard. The implication -- why would you want to go there? Then the article lightens up: The metro areas of Bismarck, Fargo and Grand Forks are listed as the top three in the nation for low unemployment.

The late Suzanne Ryan (89) was a member of a prominent Grand Forks family and the city’s leading philanthropist. She contributed to many nonprofit institutions in GF including Altru Health and UND. One remarkable example of her generosity, she donated $5,000 a month since 1994 to the North Dakota Museum of Art, a private nonprofit organization on the UND campus. That donation alone totals over $1 million. The art museum is supported by donations averaging about $1 million a year.

Stories like the following stoke a debate in ND about whether there should be greater regulation of elderly drivers. Clear weather and a dry county road were not enough to prevent a head-on collision near Grand Forks between a 78-year-old man from Northwood and a 86-year-old man from Buxton. Both were killed.

ND had prohibition from the time of statehood in 1889 until 1932. Germans always resented it. A sociologist at UND said, “Alcohol was imbedded in the culture of Germans and Scandinavians, where it was integral part of life.” An article in the Bismarck Tribune examined ND’s “heritage of alcohol.” The article refers to a “work hard, play hard” culture.

The state has some of the weakest drunk driving laws in the country. State Rep. Ed Gruchalla of Fargo is proposing changes to make ND’s DUI laws among the toughest in the nation. Now, the minimum penalty is a 91-day license suspension and $250 fine. Under Gruchalla’s proposal minimum penalties would rise to a one-year suspension, $5,000 fine and 30 days in jail. The Tribune approves of the proposal, but adds “deeply held cultural behaviors resist change and require long-term efforts.”

DAKTOIDS: Megachurches are those with weekly average attendance of 2,000 or more. ND has only two such churches and both are in Fargo: Bethel Evangelical Free Church and Hope Lutheran Church . . . It will be noticed -- an extra $15 million will flow into the Turtle Mt. Reservation before Christmas as 15,000 members each receive $1,000 as part of a settlement with the federal government . . . Booming away -- a NDSU researcher estimates Williston will have a population of 44,000 in five years -- triple its population in 2010 . . . Amtrak is used extensively by workers commuting in and out of the Oil Patch -- Williston my have saved the badly performing Empire Builder.