North Dakota § 24-02-37.3 - Flexible transportation fund - Budget section approval - State treasurer

§ 24-02-37.3. Flexible transportation fund - Budget section approval - State treasurer

distributions to political subdivisions - Report. (Retroactive application - See note) There is created in the state treasury the flexible transportation fund. The fund consists of eligible federal or state funding and any contributed private funds. 1. The flexible transportation fund must be administered and expended by the director and may be used for the following: a. Providing a match for federal funding obtained by the department of transportation. b. State-funded road and bridge construction and maintenance, and transportation support costs including staffing, facilities, and operational expenditures on the state highway system. c. State-funded road, bridge, and other infrastructure construction and maintenance activities within the state but off of the state highway system. The director shall establish the terms and provisions of the program. 2. All money derived from the investment of the flexible transportation fund or any portion of the fund, must be credited to the flexible transportation fund. The director shall monthly transmit all moneys collected and received under this chapter to the state treasurer to be transferred and credited to the flexible transportation fund. 3. The director must receive budget section approval for any project that utilizes more than ten million dollars from the fund except for projects that match federal or private funds and the amount utilized from the fund is fifty percent or less of total project costs. Any request considered by the budget section must comply with section 54-35-02.9. 4. The director shall allocate a portion of funds deposited in the flexible transportation fund for the benefit of road and bridge maintenance and projects in counties, cities, and townships as follows: a. The following percentage of state funds deposited in the fund must be allocated by the director for grants to counties, cities, and townships in non-oil-producing counties for road and bridge repair and replacement projects: (1) Nineteen and one-half percent for county and city projects. (2) Thirteen and one-half percent for township projects. b. Seventeen and one-half percent of state funds deposited in the fund must be allocated by the director for grants to eligible counties for bridge repair and replacement projects. c. The director shall establish criteria to distribute the funds under this subsection. Priority must be given to projects that match federal or private funds and to projects that improve roadways that serve as local corridors. Priority for organized township road projects must be given to projects located in townships that 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. Priority for unorganized township road projects must be given to unorganized township projects located in counties that levy at least eighteen mills for 5. 6. 7. 8. unorganized township road and bridge purposes. For purposes of determining the mills levied by a township or county, the director shall use the most recent mill rate data published by the tax commissioner. d. The amount allocated to organized townships under this subsection must be paid by the county treasurer to each organized township and the amount allocated for unorganized townships under this subsection must be credited by the county treasurer to a special fund for unorganized township roads. e. Any funds allocated under this subsection not committed by October first of each even-numbered year may be reallocated by the director for any other projects eligible for funding under this section. The state treasurer shall allocate a portion of funds deposited in the flexible transportation fund for the benefit of road, bridge, and other infrastructure maintenance and projects in counties, cities, and townships, as follows: a. Nine percent of state funds deposited in the fund must be distributed to non-oil-producing counties for the benefit of organized and unorganized township road needs using the distribution method in section 54-27-19.1. To receive an allocation under this subdivision, 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. To receive an allocation under this subdivision for unorganized townships, a county must levy at least eighteen mills for unorganized township road and bridge purposes. 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. b. Nineteen and one-half percent of state funds deposited in the fund must be distributed to non-oil-producing counties and cities for road, bridge, and other infrastructure projects using the formula established in subsection 4 of section 54-27-19. Twenty-one percent of state funds deposited in the fund must be used by the director for any projects eligible for funding under this section. For purposes of this section, "non-oil-producing county" means a county that had average annual oil production of fewer than ten million barrels based on the average annual oil production in the three-year period ending with the most recently completed even-numbered fiscal year before the start of each biennium. For purposes of determining the average annual oil production under this section, the state treasurer shall use the most recently available data compiled by the industrial commission in a report on the historical barrels of oil produced by county. The director shall provide periodic reports to the budget section regarding the status of the fund and projects receiving allocations from the fund.