The number of active business registrations in North Dakota climbed to nearly 117,000 last year and is up more than 35 percent since 2011, but filings have begun to level off with the economic slowdown driven by depressed oil and farm commodity prices, Secretary of State Al Jaeger said.
The slowdown and additional staff have helped the office catch up with processing, he said, after high demand for services in 2012 led to his controversial decision to shorten window hours by three hours, drawing criticism from Democrats during his 2014 re-election campaign.
Active business registrations soared from 85,911 at the end of June 2011 to 116,814 at the end of 2015. The registrations include corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), partnerships, nonprofits, trade names, trademarks and cooperatives.
Monthly filings peaked at 1,851 in May 2012 as the oil boom was in full swing. But they’ve since leveled off, averaging 966 per month during the last three months of 2015 – the first quarter to average less than 1,000 filings per month since the second quarter of 2011.
He said he hopes he won’t lose any staff to budget cuts that are expected after the release of a new revenue forecast Monday.
Otherwise, he may have to "shorten window hours again." LOL.
I vaguely remember that story. I think it was three hours / week. Maybe it was per day. Regardless, I assume he knew what he was doing.
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