North Dakota
Fargo city staff propose higher pay caps, restructuring employee compensation plan
FARGO — Amid struggles to hire and retain employees in a competitive job market, the city of Fargo is considering revamping its pay structure.
Fargo city commissioners gave mixed reactions to a presentation of the proposed changes during an informational meeting on Monday, June 17.
“Great plan,” Mayor Tim Mahoney said, “but if we can’t afford it, then it’s not going to work.”
The audience in the Fargo City Commission chambers on Monday was packed with Fargo firefighters following a
letter to the editor published in The Forum last November
where firefighters took their
concerns over pay and staff turnover to the public
.
“We have all the firemen here. They deserve a raise,” Mahoney said, “But we also want to be mindful of what we do to the taxpayers.”
The city’s Human Resources Director Jill Minette walked the commission through the proposed plan.
There are two options to consider, she said, Option A or Option B. Both include increases to employee pay across the pay step range, with Option B including higher pay caps.
For example, Minette said, an Equipment Operator III at the highest step makes about $73,000. Under the proposed changes, the pay cap on that position would rise to either $85,600 or $87,800.
There are 11 pay steps for city employees, she said. Under the proposed options, staff suggested increasing that to 17 steps and raising the pay cap.
If approved, the new plan would increase the pay amount at every step along the way and result in a higher pay cap for every position. Employees advance a step up the pay scale on an annual basis, in addition to COLA raises.
“This would have a substantial increase with the retention of the workforce,” Minette said.
In the existing pay structure, firefighters have 10 steps and police have nine. Under the proposals, they would both have 11 steps. Having fewer steps shortens the amount of time staff need to work for the city to reach those higher levels of pay and boost retention.
Fargo firefighter salaries are capped at about $84,800, Minette said. Their salaries would top out at nearly $90,000 under Option A and around $92,200 under Option B. Under the existing pay structure, police officers hit their cap at $89,700, while under Option A the cap would be $94,800 and under Option B it would be $97,100.
Around 30% of city employees are already at the maximum pay for their job, Minette said.
Those employees receive a cost-of-living adjustment each year.
The city of Fargo has seen turnover skyrocket since COVID-19, going from 4.37% in 2017 to 6.31% in 2020 before jumping to over 13% in 2021 and 2022 and going to 11.32% in 2023.
However, these higher turnover rates are still below the national average, Minette said.
“Not all resignations are due to pay,” she added. “There are a multitude of reasons that people leave.”
The cost for implementing the new pay structure options is varied, with Option A ringing up at $3 million and Option B at $5.5 million, Minette said, with roughly 80% of that cost coming from the city’s general fund.
These costs include what the city of Fargo will have to pay for all the step increases that are already heading their way in 2025, Assistant Director of Human Resources Beth Wiegman told The Forum via email. That incoming cost is $872,000, she said, meaning that, if approved, Plan A cost an additional $2.1 million and Plan B be an extra $4.69 million.
While he said he backs pay raises for staff, Commissioner Dave Piepkorn questioned how these plans would impact the city’s budget.
Staff recommended that the commission approve Option B — the more expensive of the options — before the start of 2025.
However, Commissioner Denise Kolpack said she did not have enough context to decide between Option A and Option B, noting both options seemed to be “putting the cart before the horse.”
The commission needs to discuss the big picture of city finances before deciding what to do, she said.
She asked the finance, administration and human resources staff committee to decide the city’s compensation philosophy and pass that recommendation to the full City Commission for review.
Mahoney said it’s important for the city to offer competitive salaries for staff because the city trains “excellent” people who then leave to work in the private sector.
“It is a complex salary structure. It always was. But we’re trying to be competitive,” Mahoney said.
GRAND FORKS — A North Dakota composer’s dream is turning into a statewide invitation.
Williston-based musician Emily Black-Driscoll was chosen as the North Dakota Music Teachers Association’s commissioned composer for 2026. She’s preparing an original composition that will premiere in August.
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North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
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