Lawsuit alleges City of Fargo illegally annexed land

Southern Valley Fire and Rescue has sued the City of Fargo and Cass County over what it says was an illegal annexation of land. The rural fire department says that annexation has cost it close to $7 million in lost tax and fee revenue. 

Since 1982, Southern Valley’s fire protection district has been located in Cass County, south of Fargo. Fargo has annexed land that encroaches on Southern Valley’s territory, the fire department alleges. 

The lawsuit states Fargo never filed any petition with the Cass County auditor over its expansion. That means Southern Valley was never able to protest the annexation into its territory. However, the Cass County auditor went on to redirect tax revenue from the territory over to both Fargo and its fire department, Southern Valley says.

That has meant a loss of $6.3 million in tax revenue and over $700,000 in fee revenue since 2018, according to the suit. Besides monetary losses, Southern Valley said Fargo’s Fire Department has also taken over the fire protection territory. 

The complaint also alleges Fargo’s newest fire station, built in 2024, not only exists within Southern Valley’s territory but was built with taxes generated from that territory.

In a statement, the City of Fargo said it “rejects the claims being made by Southern Valley Fire & Rescue and intends to vigorously defend the claims that have been lodged.”

Cass County and Southern Valley Fire and Rescue were not immediately available for comment.

This lawsuit marks the second time Fargo’s been in hot water for alleged illegal annexations. In August, the city tried to annex parcels of land where an artificial intelligence data center is planned for the City of Harwood. Both Applied Digital and Harwood have outspokenly protested against the move.

Fargo has since withdrawn its efforts.