North Dakota
Grand Forks County Commission member to propose consolidating the local jail and sheriff's office
GRAND FORKS — A Grand Forks County Commission member on Tuesday will propose merging the county jail and sheriff’s department — a move he admits will “raise some eyebrows” — with an added hope for future collaboration between the correctional center and state.
Mark Rustad will make the motion during the commission’s regular meeting Tuesday, Jan. 7. The purpose, he said, is to prevent a tax increase he believes is inevitable if significant changes aren’t made to reconcile a county budget that’s been stretched thin. On the pre-meeting agenda, available to the public, Rustad’s proposal is listed simply as “county department consolidation.”
Rustad believes a major issue with the county’s current financial state is
the Grand Forks County Correctional Center expansion project.
He calls it a financial anchor around the county’s ankle.
“(It) really never should have been built in the first place,” Rustad said. “But we need to figure out a way to make lemonade out of lemons.”
When the County Commission approved the 2025 budget, it did so by buying down its property tax levy with cash on hand — likely the last time the county will be able to do that, according to Grand Forks County Auditor Debbie Nelson’s budget report. The county is using cash on hand to keep the mill levy down by almost 10 mills, or around $4 million, based on July taxable values.
Without the cash, the county would be near the mill levy maximum of 60 mills, currently valued at around $23.6 million, for its general fund, which includes primarily operation and staffing expenses. The county is also currently levying 7.78 of its capital construction mills — most of its 10-mill limit. Over the last three budget years, the county has budgeted between seven and eight mills.
While the value of a mill has generally gone up over time, and increased by 5.38% between the 2024 and 2025 budgets, commissioners want to lessen the burden of property taxes on property owners.
A mill, or rather the mill levy, is the multiplier used to calculate what is owed in property taxes. It is determined by dividing the property tax levy revenue needed by the total taxable value in a taxing district. The mill levy is then multiplied by the taxable value of a property to determine the amount owed. Different taxing entities have different values for their mills. In the 2025 budget, a single Grand Forks County mill is valued at $394,096, while a city of Grand Forks’ single mill is $294,256.
“This is step one in trying to give us a financial forecast that is long term rather than trying to piecemeal our budget together to basically rely on increasing home values,” Rustad said. “That’s not a safe thing to rely on.”
Rustad proposes to put the sheriff’s office in charge of the correctional center, which would remove duplicative work that he believes exists in administrative roles. This would not necessarily be done by layoffs, but rather by choosing not to rehire openings as employees retire. Additionally, he believes the consolidation would save on transportation costs, since sheriff’s deputies perform inmate transportation for things like court hearings.
Rustad said it’s too early in the process to say what would become of Grand Forks County Correctional Center’s administrator position, currently held by Bret Burkholder. In his proposal, it could possibly be eliminated, he said, or it would remain and report to the sheriff. Rustad stressed that his proposal isn’t directed at Burkholder or the work he has done.
“I ran on this,” Rustad said, referring to his candidacy before he was elected. “It’s not something I just pulled from thin air.”
He added: “I wouldn’t really feel comfortable saying, ‘Yeah, that position is going away. That would have to be a real detailed conversation among the commission if, in fact, I have support (for the consolidation.)”
He doesn’t suspect the role would fall to Sheriff Andy Schneider, though, because the roles of jail administrator and sheriff are so different and each take a significant amount of time. One person can’t do both, Rustad said.
“This is not headhunting for Bret Burkholder,” he said. “He was doing exactly what he was told to do — and what his job description is — by previous county commissions.”
Rustad also believes the move could allow the county to work more closely with the state — perhaps to include leasing a portion of the expanded correctional facility for state use.
Commissioner Terry Bjerke said nothing can or should be off the table when considering the county’s budget.
“I think the majority of the commission wants to look and see if there are ways we can consolidate,” said Bjerke, who earned a seat on the commission in November after campaigning on a platform of budget reform. “Things change, technology improves. There are different things you can look at — like if you get a new piece of software and it can do things you normally got done by hand, why wouldn’t you look at that kind of thing?”
While both Bjerke and Rustad have said they are against any new taxes for county residents, others have said the county needs to look at diversifying its revenue streams.
“We can nickel-and-dime the budget, absolutely, I totally agree with you. But when it comes to the long-range plan, how can we broaden our resources instead of,
‘Well, we’re going to be capped off at 60 mills?’” Commissioner Cynthia Pic told commissioners in September.
“How can we broaden our revenue sources so that we continue to provide the services that are mandated in legislation?”
The county has tried. For example, a vote to raise the sales tax in the county narrowly failed in 2022. Funds generated by the tax would have gone toward capital improvement funding.
Due to construction delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,
there are numerous capital projects underway in the county at once.
Those also resulted in projects costing more because of inflation.
While the county is near its capacity for capital expenditures, additional correctional staff for the jail expansion will add a projected $428,700 to the 2026 budget. The county budgeted for those roles to be filled around halfway through 2025 to save costs, as the facility isn’t expected to be fully ready until mid-2025.
The county simply cannot afford to staff the expanded portion of the jail long term, Rustad said.
“We could probably do it for something like five years – if we burn through our cash on hand,” he said.
Rustad’s hope, if his proposal is approved, is that the correctional center will immediately be turned over to the sheriff’s office, consolidating the two largest expenditures under the county general fund. He believes the transition could be completed by the end of the first quarter of the year.
Considering the 2025 budget, if combined, the two would cost nearly $16 million – more than four times the size of the next largest department under the general fund, which is the State’s Attorney’s Office.
Rustad believes money will be saved through his proposal, but when discussing it with the Herald he said he suspects a dollar estimate won’t be clear until after the change is made.
“I don’t know if there is a good way (to determine potential savings) until we pry open the departments,” he said.
He expressed confidence, though, in Schneider’s ability to create efficiency.
Though not directly related to Tuesday’s proposal, Rustad also has hopes for the county to lease a portion of its expanded correctional facility to the state and its prisoners. Capacity issues at all levels of North Dakota incarceration have been well documented; Rustad believes this could be a way to meet a need for the state and many needs for the county.
Leasing the space would bring funds into the county and, as a result, staffing it would be the state’s responsibility, taking the financial burden away from the county, Rustad believes. Though the intent of the expansion project was to address the county’s own capacity issues, Rustad said that, without the money to staff the space, it’s no good to the county.
“If we can’t staff the space, it’s irrelevant,” Rustad said. “It costs a lot less to rent back a few beds from the state … and, furthermore, it is pretty frequent that we have state and federal inmates in our jail that we’re renting space to.”
His hope is that cutting costs and adding a revenue stream would hopefully, down the line, allow the county to invest in resources for
its incarcerated population which, as previously reported by the Herald, is largely made up of people with mental health and substance use issues that need treatment to prevent recidivism
.
FARGO — Drivers can expect to see a slight uptick in gas prices as a result of the Iran conflict.
As of Monday, March 2, the average for North Dakota is $2.65 a gallon. While that is a $0.13 increase from a month ago, it is significantly lower than prices a year ago.
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GRAND FORKS – The Study ND, formerly Humanities North Dakota, has received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for a statewide theater and humanities initiative in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
This commemorative investment is meant to bring historical events and figures – such as the framers of the U.S. Constitution – to life through virtual and live performances that celebrate the nation’s history.
The grant, along with funding from private sources, has made it possible for The Study ND to host “America 250” activities after the organization sustained a considerable cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year, according to Brenna Gerhardt, The Study ND executive director.
“We absorbed a 50% budget cut, resulting in a loss of $467,645 in funding,” Gerhardt said. “As a result, we had to significantly scale back our American 250 initiatives focused on American history and civics education.”
Funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts will be used to present public readings, theatrical portrayals and guided discussions to encourage audience members to reflect on the nation’s founding in 1776 and on its democratic ideals, while engaging in contemporary conversations about civic life.
All of the programming in the series organized by The Study ND, titled “American Heroes,” will be livestreamed statewide.
In the grant application submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts, “we framed the project around a simple idea: democracy requires more than information, it requires citizens who can think historically, listen well, and argue in good faith,” Gerhardt said.
“This series uses living history performances to bring consequential figures into the room, then turns the room into a civic space through moderated dialogue and related public events. We define ‘heroism’ as civic courage under pressure, the willingness to contend with hard truths, and the capacity to enlarge a community’s moral imagination,” she said.
“The project does not ask audiences to agree on a single interpretation of a figure. It invites them to grapple with complexity together, and to connect the past to the responsibilities of the present.”
When Gerhardt and her colleagues received the application for grant proposals from the National Endowment for the Arts, “we were already planning a line-up of America 250 events and it fit perfectly with what we were already planning, so then we just wrote the grant,” she said.
Private funds, including matching funds from the Bismarck-based Tom and Frances Leach Foundation, have also been provided for this project.
Details about all the events will probably be posted on the website
www.TheStudyND.org
in March, Gerhardt said.
The America 250 events, which are planned to take place at Bismarck State College, are 5-6 p.m. July 8, “Reading of the Declaration of Independence, with John Adams,” and 6-7:30 p.m. July 9, “Alexander Hamilton Speaks,” both performed by William Chrystal.
The Living History programs are planned for 7-8:15 p.m. Sept. 17, “Thomas Paine,” performed by Doug Mishler, and Oct. 6, 7-8:15 p.m, “Frederick Douglass,” performed by Nathan Richardson. Both will be moderated by Susan Frontczak.
The performers Chrystal and Richardson live in Virginia, Frontczak in Colorado,and Mishler in Nevada.
Another program, “Hemingway and Gellhorn,” is set for Sept. 16-18 at Bismarck State College, Gerhardt said. “It is part of our broader Chautauqua/living history programming connected to America 250 … (and) will feature performances and discussion centered on Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, using their lives and writing as a way to explore major questions about American identity, war reporting, public memory, and the stories we tell about freedom, conflict and responsibility.
“What I am excited about with this event is that it gives us a way to approach America 250 beyond founding-era material. In other words, it helps us show the American story is not just about 1776, but also about the generations that followed and how Americans wrestled with democracy, power, truth and moral courage.”
This program “expands the initiative beyond commemoration into reflection, dialogue and interpretation, which is where the humanities are especially valuable,” she said. “It helps us reach audiences who may be drawn in through literature, journalism and performance, not only traditional history events.”
The Hemingway and Gellhorn program fits in with America 250 in that “it broadens the frame and adds depth to the larger effort.”
Gerhardt is hoping that these activities will give participants “a better understanding of all the debates and issues going on when our country was founded, and how those debates are continuing today,” she said, “and just to be more thoughtful and informed citizens.”
College students and members of the general public will also be invited to participate in a workshop aimed at teaching participants how to build a living history performance from primary sources and historical research.
Last year, The Study ND lost a substantial amount of funding – nearly $468,000, about half of its annual budget – from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its fiscal 2025 year.
The loss of that much funding was discouraging, Gerhardt said. “Very much so, because we had a lot of activities planned for America 250 and we had to cancel a lot of them, or – like in this case – seek other funding, which we were lucky to get.”
The Study ND currently has four full-time employees, she said. “We eliminated a part-time marketing position after the cuts.”
A nonprofit organization, The Study ND provides civics, arts and cultural education programming. The organization’s programs – which include online classes, book talks, lectures and more – reached about 24,000 people in 2024, Gerhardt told the North Dakota Monitor in April 2025.
During the summer, the organization hosts a civics education program for high school and middle school social studies teachers, she said.
On this day in 1943, two North Dakota army officers, Second Lieut. Arthur B. Kuntz and First Lieut. Bernard A. Anderson, were killed in separate medium bomber training crashes in Florida and Georgia.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Army Plane Crashes Kill Two N. D. Men
Two North Dakota officers in the army air forces were killed Sunday in bomber crashes during training flights, Associated Press dispatches revealed Monday.
Second Lieut. Arthur B. Kuntz of Harvey (Wells county) was killed with 10 others from the Avon Park, Fla., army bomber base when two medium bombers collided during a routine formation flight. Both planes crashed and there were no survivors.
First Lieut. Bernard A. Anderson of Warwick (Benson county) was one of six killed when a medium bomber from MacDill field, Tampa, Fla., crashed near Savannah, Ga. Lieutenant Anderson was co-pilot of the plane.
None of the other victims of either accident was from the Dakotas or Minnesota.
Lieutenant Kuntz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Kuntz of Harvey, was graduated from the army air force navigation school at Hondo, Texas, as a second lieutenant last October, and received his wings as a navigator.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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