BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) \u2014 A major spending initiative aimed at infrastructure projects outside western North Dakota\u2019s oil patch is on pace to be fully funded for the first time since the Legislature approved it three years ago, due to strong oil prices and steady production, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOperation Prairie Dog,\u201d named for the industrious burrowing mammal, was passed by the 2019 Legislature to provide $250 million in every two-year budget cycle for counties, cities and airports in non-oil producing areas for such things as roads, bridges and airport projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill, which won wide legislative support, assumed oil production and prices would hold though the two-year budget cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But \u201cdue to the pandemic-related collapse in global oil price and the resulting drop in North Dakota oil production,\u201d oil tax revenue was only $3.6 billion, or 25% lower than had been projected for the last budget period, said Joe Morrissette, the state\u2019s top budget writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That meant only $29.9 million was distributed for the 2019-2021 budget period, based on the legislation\u2019s funding formula that puts municipalities with higher populations at the head of the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, the Legislature distributed more than $300 million in federal coronavirus relief funds for statewide infrastructure projects during its special session in November, Morrissette said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oil revenues during the budget cycle that ends next year already are over $730 million more than forecast due to greater-than-expected oil prices and steady production, state budget data show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Morrissette said if oil revenue continues at the current rate, Prairie Dog would be fully funded and distributed early next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legislation was the brainchild of Republican Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, who crafted the plan after much grumbling by lawmakers outside the oil patch that their oil-rich colleagues were getting too large a share of money for their infrastructure needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was hearing: \u2018When are we gonna get ours, when is it our turn?\u2019\u201d Wardner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The longtime lawmaker, who is retiring this year, said he was confident Prairie Dog would get the entire $250 million this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to fill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All but the eight oil-producing counties are eligible for the funds. The bulk of the money, $169.2 million, is to be shared between municipalities and counties and townships for infrastructure. Counties and townships get an additional $30.4 million, as do municipalities. Another $20 million is set aside for airport infrastructure to be used mainly to match federal funds for projects, Wardner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery incorporated city in non-oil counties will get something,\u201d Wardner said. \u201cThey will be able to do things they haven\u2019t done before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The allocations will range from a few thousand dollars for small communities to several million dollars for the larger, higher-population cities, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) \u2014 A major spending initiative aimed at infrastructure projects outside western North Dakota\u2019s oil patch is on pace to be fully funded for the first time since the Legislature approved it three years ago, due to strong oil prices and steady production, officials said. \u201cOperation Prairie Dog,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":244891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=253555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253556,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253555\/revisions\/253556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/244891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=253555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=253555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=253555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}