Former mayor presents petition to curb water bills and property taxes; city cites Attorney General opinion on timing

Former Mayor Marlon Hawkinson told the Bismarck City Commission he and petition organizers gathered roughly 1,600 signatures for an initiated ordinance that would freeze water bills and property-tax and utility rates at their 2018 dollar amounts unless citizens vote otherwise.

"This is an initiated ordinance ... no increases in existing or new taxes and or fees or special assessments shall be permitted unless the vote of the citizens," Hawkinson said, describing the petition's language and the options he wanted the commission to consider.

Hawkinson asked the commission either to accept the petition or introduce its text as an ordinance. He also said he had contacted the ACLU of North Dakota to explore a legal challenge to the state time limit on petitions.

City attorney Julie briefed the commission on an Attorney General's opinion issued in October 2024. "That attorney general's opinion is that the petitioner has one year to gather the requisite number of signatures for presentation," Julie said, and staff indicated the petitioners did not meet that requirement. Julie added that the AG opinion concluded the one-year limit does not unlawfully encumber constitutional rights and that AG opinions govern until a court decides otherwise.

Mayor Schmitz and several commissioners raised concerns about the potential fiscal consequences of a rollback to 2018 levels. The mayor said, based on preliminary calculations, a rollback could force reductions "somewhere around 35 to 40%" of police personnel and significant cuts in fire and street services, and he described the public-safety and service risks of such cuts.

Commissioners did not accept the petition on the spot; the exchange closed with staff and commissioners noting the AG opinion and the possibility that petitioners could pursue judicial review.