Senate panel reviews $500,000 request to help North Dakota Firefighters Association buy Bismarck headquarters

Senator Jerry Klein, District 14, told the Senate Appropriations Committee's Government Operations Division that Senate Bill 2218 would provide a one-time $500,000 appropriation to help the North Dakota Firefighters Association buy a building on East Broadway in Bismarck and consolidate administrative offices, equipment storage and indoor training space.

The bill's sponsor, Senator Jerry Klein, said the association negotiated a purchase price “around $2,000,000” and has secured roughly 80% financing from lenders but lacks the capital for the required down payment. “They just need a little boost,” Klein said during the hearing.

Robert (Rob) Knuth, training director for the North Dakota Firefighters Association and assistant chief of the Minot Rural Volunteer Fire Department, told the division the NDFA is a 501(c)(3) accredited by ProBoard and that its training and certification programs follow NFPA standards. “NDFA is a mobile training organization that provides instruction and certification testing to individual departments at 0 cost,” Knuth said, adding that the association cannot use some grant funds for capital purchases and that rising rent at its current offices has prompted the purchase plan.

Knuth outlined a three-phase plan: purchase the existing office building (phase 1), build a roughly 15,000-square-foot addition for equipment and indoor hands-on training (phase 2) and renovate first-floor offices into classrooms and meeting spaces (phase 3). He said the initial building is about 8,643 square feet and that an adjacent 1.57-acre parcel would allow the planned addition. Knock estimates cited in testimony place the initial purchase at roughly $1.9–$2.0 million, with a previously estimated construction cost for phase 2 of about $2.43 million and an overall capital-campaign goal of $6,000,000.

Knuth said NDFA secured an arrangement that would keep current rent stable until June 1 under a lease-with-option-to-buy proposal; that timeline increases the urgency to assemble a 20% down payment. He told the committee the association currently leases office and additional storage space that together cost roughly $233,000 per year and that the mortgage estimates provided by a bank advisor suggested long-term mortgage payments could be comparable to or slightly lower than current rent.

Members asked about fundraising and how NDFA would cover remaining costs. Knuth said NDFA has engaged PACE Fundraising to run a capital campaign and expects to leverage donations to close gaps; he also said NDFA is discussing shared use with EMS and law-enforcement training partners and expects some property-tax exemption discussions with Bismarck officials. John Arnold, deputy insurance commissioner, told the committee the insurance regulatory trust fund currently provides the NDFA's appropriated training funds and that the insurance department can administer the proposed grant portion of the bill.

The hearing closed with no formal vote on SB 2218 during this session of the division. The bill record shows testimony from NDFA leadership, a deputy insurance commissioner and multiple committee members; committee members on several occasions emphasized the training mission and rising lease costs as rationale for the support request.