Fargo staff present detailed plan to spend quarter‑cent public safety sales tax on pay, hires and facilities

City of Fargo staff on May 14 laid out a spending and implementation plan for the quarter‑cent public safety sales tax voters approved Nov. 4, 2024, proposing market adjustments to sworn pay, new sworn and civilian hires, technology and facility investments and a set‑aside for existing public‑safety debt. The administration estimated the quarter cent will generate approximately $8.5 million in a full year and said transfers into the general fund will begin in mid‑June; the commission is scheduled to consider the plan on May 27 and no vote was taken at the May 14 presentation.

Susan (staff member) said, “we estimate that a quarter cent equals approximately 8 and a half million in 2025,” and that because the tax began April 1 the city will collect roughly 75% of a full year in 2025. The proposal treats about 80% of the revenue as the primary usage — ongoing costs such as pay, staffing, equipment and facilities — and 20% as secondary usage for existing public‑safety debt service and capital contributions.

The plan would change the city’s public‑safety pay structure and provide market adjustments for sworn employees: Jill Minette, Human Resources Director, told commissioners “All sworn employees will receive at least a 3% market adjustment” as they move into the new structure and summarized average adjustments as roughly 7% for sworn fire employees and 5% for sworn police employees. The HR presentation was based on a regional compensation survey performed by compensation consultant Christy Reetz of MRA; MRA surveyed 37 municipalities and identified a local peer group that includes Bismarck, Grand Forks, West Fargo, Moorhead and Sioux Falls.

City staff provided counts for sworn staffing and proposed additions: the police department currently has 192 sworn positions and the fire department 138, for 330 sworn public‑safety positions total. Fire Chief Dirksen said the department proposes adding six firefighters in 2025 (to staff a quick‑response unit) and another sworn firefighter plus a fire data analyst and one firefighter moved into a training position in 2026; “retain, retention and recruitment of employees” was Chief Dirksen’s stated top goal. The police plan would add one civilian operations technician in 2025 and, in 2026 after the department’s training academy schedule allows new classes, add three lieutenants (to provide a daily shift commander), one sergeant to lead the wellness unit and five patrol officers for neighborhood services, plus convert the existing wellness coordinator to a permanent civilian position.

Finance staff described the model and assumptions. The presentation used a 2% annual sales‑tax growth assumption and focused its ten‑year financial model on year‑to‑year sustainability; staff emphasized they expect to review the plan annually during the budget process. The finance presentation said annual public‑safety debt service totals about $2.4 million paid from the general fund; the proposal would allocate less than half of that debt service to the sales tax in proportionate shares between departments (the presentation listed approximate allocations for the plan period: fire roughly $510,000 annually before a bond payoff reduces that amount, and police roughly $582,000). Staff also proposed using a portion of sales‑tax proceeds to free up capital‑fund capacity: the model shows three‑year average capital contributions of about $375,000 for fire and $525,000 for police.

Commissioners asked for clarifications. Commissioner Strand asked whether the plan adequately addresses the regional dispatch center beyond its debt service allocation and requested historical budget context before 2025. Commissioner Kernberg thanked campaign volunteers and said, “This should be core city funding that's done without a tax, in my mind,” asking whether the enacted plan matches the expectations of the voters and first responders who campaigned for the measure. Commissioner Kolpak asked how the salary data and comparables informed the plan and how the commission will select the shorter list of 15 peer cities for future annual reviews; city staff said they will bring a compensation philosophy and a proposed peer list forward and review the public‑safety pay plan annually.

Staff emphasized next steps and limits: Brenda Darragh, Assistant City Administrator, said the commission will be asked to take a three‑part motion on May 27 (approve the pay plan and pay structure, approve 2025 budget adjustments to account for partial‑year proceeds, and incorporate the plan into the 2026 budget process) and that the city’s payroll team would target July 7 as the date to implement pay adjustments if the commission approves the plan. No formal action was taken at the May 14 meeting; staff said the presentation materials are available at fargond.gov/psst and invited commissioners to send questions before May 27.

The presentation included several caveats staff said are central to implementation: the ten‑year model is sensitive to revenue and expense changes (sales‑tax growth, legislative changes, population and service demand), and staff said the plan is intentionally conservative and intended as a durable, revisit‑able framework rather than a final long‑term commitment past the 20‑year sunset of the tax.