ND Senate upset at ....

[NanoBison]

I am not certain of this but is it not true that the purchase of this private building downtown will result in no future property taxes as it is now a government owned building? I know in Bismarck, private business has griped about that issue for years because of the State government being housed there. That would be an additional burden on the tax base within the city of Fargo.

I'm pretty sure the land/building will become tax-free. But I'm almost positive if you ask any downtown business owners if they are mad almost 4,000 students will be downtown, I think you'll get an answer quite different than the Bismarck situation. In terms of tax burden, the conversion will be a drop in the bucket compared to the impact of Innovis Hospital becoming a non-profit (it's been seriously discussed several times in the news).

[ND Pride]

Question:

These buildings were cheaper to purchase (downtown) than to build on campus. However, they won't be on the NDSU steam plant system which means their own heating systems (and separate heating costs). And they'll be away from primary campus services (increased travel time for plant services, campus mail, etc.).

What are the long-term costs of ownership of these cheap-to-buy downtown buildings relative to having built (a more costly up front) on-campus facility?

The heating system in the downtown buildings may well be more efficient than the those on most college campuses based on the complaints I have heard from several colleges/universities. Also, NDSU already has a presence downtown with their Architecture program so any travel time (I think it takes 4-5 minutes to get downtown) is minimal and there would be economies of scale with another set of buildings downtown in terms of plant services and campus mail. So expanding in the downtown area would add some new economies.

[Siouxman]

You can't make a good judgement that it isn't.

I don't believe that I have made a judgement either way. My only statement concerning the deal is that you can't make a judgement that it is a good deal based on the info provided. Those supporting the deal have simply stated part of the critical info and erroneously claim that justifies as a good deal.

However, now that it appears that the building was actually purchased by a foundation and not NDSU (if I understand that correctly), depending upon what the lease states NDSU (and by default the State of ND) may or may not have accepted some future risk with the lease. Without seeing the lease, it is impossible to tell. At the very least, NDSU could have (should have) at least informed some key legislators and legislative leaders about their plans (maybe they did), and presented the deal and explained to make sure egos weren't bruised. Right or wrong, politics is the game.