Port: County governments are considering calling for an end to a property tax cap that's barely begun

MINOT — The recipe for North Dakota's enduring property tax angst is made up of one part blame shifting, one part legislative bailouts and two parts local profligacy.

Over the last couple of decades, local governments and their lobbyists have been very effective at redirecting the public's property tax angst to the governor and the Legislature in Bismarck. The state leaders responded by dumping billions in spending on local governments in a vain attempt to buy down property taxes.

They also, because of the "local control" argument, avoided putting any meaningful spending controls on local governments.

The locals used that local control to gobble up the new state spending and raise property taxes anyway.

That's where things sat heading into the 2025 legislative session, but Gov. Kelly A