Sinner wants tax boost to fund Red River panel

By Don Davis
ddavis@forumcomm.com
The Forum

5/25/2002 - ST. PAUL – The newly established Red River Basin Commission needs money and authority, former North Dakota Gov. George Sinner told legislators of three states and Manitoba Friday.

"I am pretty frustrated," said Sinner, who lives in Fargo.

Sinner, Fargo Mayor Bruce Furness and others involved with the Red River updated lawmakers from Minnesota, South Dakota, Manitoba and North Dakota on the progress of a commission designed to be a clearinghouse of information about Red River flooding and related issues.

About two-dozen legislators wrapped up a two-day meeting in St. Paul on Friday.

Sinner said a flood occurring 150 years ago is on the minds of people near the Red River.

"You think what could happen in a flood the level of 1852, you get pretty frantic," he said.

Sinner was the most outspoken of the panelists, calling for raising taxes to fund the Red River Basin Commission.

He said Minnesota and North Dakota should raise taxes to support the commission and suggested imposing a quarter-percent increase in sales taxes paid in counties adjoining the Red River.

Property taxes already are too high, Sinner said, and should not be used. The former governor - and several lawmakers - said raising taxes would be difficult.

"We're in this because we have a crisis situation," Sinner said. "Someone has to pay for this stuff."

Lawmakers called for extensive studies about Red River flooding, but Charles Fritz of the Red River Basin Institute said: "It takes resources to do that, that we don't have."

Furness was not optimistic taxes would rise to help the commission. But he suggested Minnesota, North Dakota and Manitoba each contribute $100,000 to the group's work, with another $300,000 coming from local governments and organizations.

The mayor said he expects the commission - which replaces three other groups later this year - to coordinate flood-prevention efforts, but he disagreed with Sinner that the 41 member commission needs legal authority to make decisions.

"I prefer the consensus approach," Furness said, although he added that "it would be easier to take action if we had authority."

Sinner suggested the states and Manitoba give the commission specific authority to act on Red River issues.

"Nobody is in charge," Sinner said, citing the 1997 flood when fights broke out in Fargo neighborhoods because no one was making flood-related decisions.

"We have to have some clear, delegated authority," he said.

North Dakota Sen. Ken Solberg, R-Rugby, urged the commission to include the Devils Lake basin in its coordination efforts.

While most Red River-area residents have returned to a near-normal life since the 1997
flood, Solberg said, "we haven't been able to in Devils Lake."

Devils Lake has risen for years, forcing the state to build dikes, raise highways and take other expensive actions to protect residents.

Furness said Devils Lake and the Pembina River are in the commission's jurisdiction and
will be considered along with Red River issues.

One of the most controversial topics - the Garrison Diversion proposal to move central North Dakota water to the Red River basin - was brushed aside in Friday's meetings.

However, Furness said that is a topic the commission will be forced to consider.

Fritz said the first of what he hopes will become an annual international water conference is scheduled for Fargo next April, with the theme "Science, Water and Decision Making." He said he hopes colleges along the Red River will offer credit to those who participate.

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