County and township infrastructure fund - Continuing appropriation - State treasurer - Department of transportation - Reports
N.D. Cent. Code § 57-51.1-07.8
in effect57-51.1-07.8. County and township infrastructure fund - Continuing appropriation -
State treasurer - Department of transportation - Reports.
1. There 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.
a. The first forty million dollars deposited in the fund each biennium is 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
pursuant to subsections 2 through 7. 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.
b. The remaining moneys deposited in the fund are available to the department of
transportation, within the limits of legislative appropriation, for the purpose of
providing grants to non-oil-producing counties and townships located in non-oil-
producing counties pursuant to subsection 8.
2. By November thirtieth of each even-numbered year, a county that receives a grant
from the fund under subsection 5 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. 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
under subsection 5 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 under subsection 5 by the amount spent that was inconsistent with the
requirements.
3. Within sixty days after the fund receives total deposits equal to the amount identified
under subdivision a of subsection 1 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 receives total deposits that are at least ten percent
of the amount identified under subdivision a of subsection 1.
4. The state treasurer shall distribute thirteen percent of the total deposits under
subdivision a of subsection 1 to non-oil-producing counties for the benefit of the
organized and unorganized townships within each non-oil-producing county. The
distribution must provide for an allocation to each organized and unorganized township
which is proportional to the number of township road miles in each organized and
unorganized township relative to the combined total township road miles in all
organized and unorganized townships in all non-oil-producing counties. For purposes
of this subsection, township road miles must be based on certifications provided to the
state treasurer under section 54-27-19.1. 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. To be eligible for an allocation of funds under this subsection, an organized
township must levy at least eighteen mills for general purposes and have a
general fund balance of less than one hundred thousand dollars as of December
thirty-first of the prior year.
b. To be eligible for an allocation of funds under this subsection for unorganized
townships, a county must levy at least eighteen mills for unorganized township
road and bridge purposes.
c. For purposes of determining the mills levied by a township or county, the state
treasurer shall use the most recent mill rate data published by the tax
commissioner.
5. After the distributions in subsection 4, the state treasurer shall distribute the remaining
eighty-seven percent of the total deposits under subdivision a of subsection 1 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.
6. If the total deposits under subdivision a of subsection 1 are insufficient to provide for
the grants under subsections 4 and 5, the state treasurer shall distribute the grants on
a pro rata basis.
7. For purposes of subsections 2 through 6:
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.
8. From the funding identified under subdivision b of subsection 1, the director of the
department of transportation shall distribute grants to non-oil-producing counties and
townships located in non-oil-producing counties from the fund in accordance with the
provisions of the flexible transportation fund under section 24-02-37.3.
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t57c51-1.pdf#nameddest=57-51p1-07p8Fetched: 10/16/2026