What happens if there is an emergency and government needs more money?
A part of each governmental entity’s budget should provide for emergencies and/or “rainy day funds”; thus there is funding available in the normal course of budgeting to take care of emergencies if they occur. In fact, we have asked governmental leaders for examples of when there have been emergencies that have required an immediate tax increase and none could give an example. In short, this is a non-issue. Wise leaders will always be prepared for emergencies. North Dakota’s 53 county governmental entities have a significant amount of “cash and investment” money currently in reserve. Taken together North Dakota’s 53 counties have reserves totaling 78.33% of their total annual budgets.
