Fargo City Commissioner Denise Kolpack joins Thursdays with Tony to speak on her new role and city expenditures

Courtesy: City of Fargo
Courtesy: City of Fargo

(Fargo, ND) -- One of Fargo's leaders is sharing new experiences she's had and answered questions about Fargo's 2023 budget.

Fargo City Commissioner Denise Kolpack joined WDAY's Thursday's with Tony to speak about her multiple topics. She began the conversation by speaking about her new role within the city, saying her first three months have been a great experience so far.

"It's been very rewarding, I also have met with several citizens and business owners on issues - I try to do my homework, "said Kolpack, "I've just really been thrilled to be elected and represent the city of Fargo."

 The Commissioner also her justification for voting for the 2023 budget, which would look to raise the city's mills by two. This raises the total number of mills to 53. Kolpack says a big reason for why she voted to approve the budget comes through the kind of debt we have, and the efforts being taken to address it. 

"I did some homework on this... you have to look at the kind of debt we carry. It's very secure debt that we carry overall in the city, "said Kolpack, "We have debt because we put a $150-million project water reclamation project underway. We also changed our water treatment plant from a line to a membrane-processing  water treatment plant. If you have projects like that, which were about regionalizing both of those services and over time bringing in in revenues to the city - which they are doing, you have to borrow that money. You can't save $150 million dollars, you would be doing one project every 50 years."

Kolpack says she is looking into the long-term expenditures the city is working on and considering, and is exploring methods to pay off the debts Fargo has. The Commissioner says, as of now, things like special assessments and property taxes are high on the priority list of concerns city leaders have. 

Original Air Date: 
Saturday, October 8, 2022