Taxpayers and voters in North Dakota must force their leaders to accept the realities that the state will face in the next legislative session.
Statements, by media outlets or elected officials/candidates, like this in the Fargo Forum, do not help the public make informed decisions:
Burgum also is exaggerating the economic challenges facing the state, which has seen the size of its economy soar in recent years, even as it has dipped from peak levels.
"You hear talk about gloom and doom and the sky has fallen," Stenehjem said. "It hasn't."
North Dakota's gross state product, $22 billion in 2000, shot up to $55 billion in 2014 and dropped back to $53 billion in the fourth quarter last year, it's second-highest level, Stenehjem said.
"What's important to know is we're kind of plateauing," he added.
The state is not experiencing a budget deficit because it has cut back on planned spending, paring just over 4 percent. The state invested $1.1 billion in infrastructure, one-time spending that is paid for, Stenehjem said.
Those sorts of statements ignore the budget balancing act that the legislature will be forced to make.
Yes, the states' economy has gone from $22 billion to $53 billion from 2000 to 2015 (140% increase).
However, the state's budget during that same period has increased much faster from $1.7 billion in 2003-05 to $6 billion in 2015 (252% increase).
Government has far outpaced the economy and some are finally realizing this was a long term problem.
Another more direct indicator of the condition of the economy is to look at Taxable Sales. A new report says that Taxable Sales fell from $28.2 billion in 2014 to $22.8 billion in 2015 - a 19% drop.
Ten of the 15 majority industry sectors saw reductions last year, led by the mining and oil extraction with a 38.5 percent drop, from $5.2 million to $3.2 million. Wholesale trade was down 27.4 percent.
