Empower the Taxpayer

THIS FROM THE PORK

REPORT CLICK ON PIG TO READ FULL REPORT.

 Costly Changes

According to Business Dictionary.com, a change order “changes the

terms of a contract, such as price amounts and time requirements,

usually for construction projects.”

In other words, changes orders are required to appropriate additional

funding for projects that cost more than originally estimated. There is

$52,978,255 in suspicious change orders during the 2007-09 biennium.

The problem with change orders centers on the fact that the entire

legislature does not vote on them; rather, only the interim Budget

Section gets to vote. The appropriate legislative process is ignored. In

the case of emergency funding and other rare occurrences, change order

are necessary; however, they are used entirely too much. Change orders

can also be viewed as poor planning. The following are examples of

questionable change orders

• $16,000,000 – North Dakota Department of Public Instruction

salaries and operating expenses

• $400,000 – Dorms at North Dakota State University

• $257,000 – Schafer Hall at Bismarck State College

• $200,000 – Attorney General’s office for salaries and wages

• $151,250 – Costs related to the 1997 flood

• $44,500 – Minot Dome floor replacement.

These projects are the result of poor planning, not emergencies.

Notice: The costs of the change order listed here would more than pay for the costs of property taxes for one year. 

The North Dakota Pork Report