BISMARCK — North Dakota legislators advanced a bill Thursday, Jan. 9, that would shake up how much money townships receive from “Operation Prairie Dog,” which distributes oil and gas revenue outside of oil-producing areas, with state treasury officials calling the proposed change more equitable.
would amend a bill passed in 2019 referred to as
which allocated $250 million in oil and gas tax revenue per biennium to cities, counties and townships in non-oil-producing counties in North Dakota.
Under the current structure of the Prairie Dog fund, 13% of the funding — or $14,950,000 — is distributed evenly between townships to be used on infrastructure, mostly roads. The money is first distributed to the counties which then distribute it to organized townships and county funds for unorganized township roads.
The proposed amendment would make it so that funding is allocated to townships proportional to the number of road miles a township has; the more road miles a township has, the more money it will receive.
North Dakota State Treasurer Thomas Beadle said during his testimony in favor of the bill that the formula as it stands creates inconsistencies in the treasurer’s office.
“So, under current law, the same dollar amount will go out to a given township whether they have one mile or 20 miles (of road),” Beadle said. “But if we adjust this as this bill proposes to a mileage-based formula, we will instead align with other distributions made by our office that impact townships and provide for a much cleaner distribution, and more accurately reflect the needs of the townships across our state.”
There was no testimony offered in opposition to the bill, and Rep. Mitch Ostlie, R-Jamestown, said he would have liked to see testimony from
counties that stand to lose funding
under the proposed amendment.
“It looks like there’s a lot of counties that are in the red that look like they are receiving less money,” Ostlie said. “And I would have liked to have some of those counties be here … to express their concern one way or the other if they are in favor of it. Just kind of wanting to know if they were even aware of this.”
Beadle said the state Treasurer’s Office had communicated with counties that it was looking at making adjustments to the Prairie Dog fund and said counties do not tend to be concerned with the change. He said there may be concern from smaller townships that have less road mileage but maintained the amendment was more equitable than the current law.
Freshman Rep. Macy Bolinske, R-Minot, asked Beadle if the townships typically use all of the money distributed to them.
Beadle answered that the treasury department does not keep track of how the townships use the money but said the townships “tend to burn through that money pretty quick when they do have it.”
He said townships’ most common costs regarding roadways were snow removal and gravel costs.
Rep. Matthew Heilman, R-Bismarck, said Burleigh County — where he resides — stood to lose money because of this bill and motioned to give the bill a “do not pass” recommendation. However, in a phone call with The Bismarck Tribune after the hearing, Heilman explained that he had been confused at the time and after hearing Rep. Lawrence Klemin, R-Bismarck, explain the bill, chose to vote against his own motion.
After Heilman’s motion failed, Klemin motioned to give the bill a “do pass” recommendation. Klemin’s motion passed 9-3, with one abstention.
Klemin will now carry the bill to the House floor for a vote.
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