Section 57-51.1-07.8 - County and township infrastructure fund - Continuing appropriation - State treasurer - ReportsThere is created in the state treasury the county and township infrastructure fund. The fund consists of all moneys deposited in the fund under section 57-51.1-07.5. All moneys in the fund are appropriated to the state treasurer on a continuing basis for the purpose of providing grants to non-oil-producing counties and townships located in non-oil-producing counties. The grant funding may be distributed only to non-oil-producing counties and townships located in non-oil-producing counties and may be used only for road and bridge infrastructure projects.
1. By November thirtieth of each even-numbered year, starting in 2022, a county that receives a grant from the fund shall provide a report to the state treasurer on the use of the funding. The state treasurer shall notify counties of the reporting requirement by November first of each even-numbered year, starting in 2022. Upon request, the state treasurer may provide an extension of up to fifteen days for a county to submit the report. The state treasurer shall determine the format of the report. The report must include the amount of grant funding received and spent by the county and a description of the road and bridge infrastructure projects completed in part or in whole with the grant funding. The state treasurer shall make the reports available to the public on the state treasurer's website. A county that does not provide the report in a timely manner or in the correct format is not eligible to receive a grant from the fund for a period of two years starting from the date the report was due. If a county uses the funding in a manner inconsistent with the requirements of this section as identified in any financial audits conducted by the state auditor or an independent accounting firm, the state treasurer shall reduce any future grants to that county by the amount spent that was inconsistent with the requirements.2. Within sixty days after the fund receives its statutory limit of oil and gas tax allocations under section 57-51.1-07.5 or by September thirtieth of each odd-numbered year, whichever is earlier, the state treasurer shall distribute moneys in the fund as grants to counties for road and bridge infrastructure projects. The state treasurer shall distribute the grants only if the fund balance is at least ten percent of the amount needed for distributions under this section.3. The state treasurer shall distribute the lesser of thirteen percent of the balance of the fund or sixteen million one hundred thousand dollars to non-oil-producing counties for the benefit of the organized and unorganized townships within each non-oil-producing county. The distribution to each non-oil-producing county must provide for an equal allocation to each organized and unorganized township. The amount allocated to organized townships under this section must be paid by the county treasurer to each organized township. The amount allocated to unorganized townships under this section must be credited by the county treasurer to a special fund for unorganized township roads. A township is not eligible for an allocation of funds under this section if the township does not maintain any township roads.4. After the distributions in subsection 3, the state treasurer shall distribute the remaining money in the fund to non-oil-producing counties based on the most recent data compiled by the upper great plains transportation institute regarding North Dakota's county, township, and tribal road and bridge infrastructure needs. The distribution to each non-oil-producing county must be proportional to each non-oil-producing county's total estimated road and bridge investment needs relative to the combined total estimated road and bridge investment needs of all the non-oil-producing counties. The total estimated road and bridge investment needs for each county is the twenty-year estimate for unpaved and paved road and bridge needs as identified by the upper great plains transportation institute. If the data compiled by the upper great plains transportation institute includes more than one twenty-year estimate for the total needs of each county, the state treasurer shall use an average of the twenty-year estimates for each county.5. If the moneys in the fund are insufficient to provide for the grants under this section, the state treasurer shall distribute the grants on a pro rata basis.6. For purposes of this section: a. "Fiscal year" means the period beginning September first and ending August thirty-first of the following calendar year.b. "Non-oil-producing county" means a county that received no allocation of funding or a total allocation of less than five million dollars under subsection 2 of section 57-51-15 in the most recently completed even-numbered fiscal year before the start of each biennium.c. "Road and bridge infrastructure projects" means the projects associated with the construction of new unpaved and paved road and bridge infrastructure or associated with the maintenance, repair, or replacement of existing unpaved and paved road and bridge infrastructure.Amended by S.L. 2021 , ch. 15( HB 1015 ), § 38, eff. 7/1/2021.Added by S.L. 2019 , ch. 504( HB 1066 ), § 7, eff. 7/1/2019.