Bill to provide funding for regional councils in North Dakota to go to appropriations on Feb. 17
Feb. 16—BISMARCK, N.D. — A bill that would provide funding to North Dakota's regional councils is set to be discussed by the House Appropriations Committee on Monday, Feb. 17, after being amended to decrease its proposed funds by $7 million.
Supporters are hoping to see that figure returned to a higher amount.
Lead sponsor of the bill, Rep. David Monson, R-Onsabrock, said the funds depend on other bills with higher proposed dollar figures.
"Some of these duplicate bills — especially the big ones like some of the property tax bills that are putting us way underwater as far as our available funds — once some of those get weeded out we might have a chance at maybe getting it back up to a decent level," he said.
House Bill 1524, when it was introduced, proposed a provision of $8 million to the North Dakota Department of Commerce to fund regional planning councils for the July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027, biennium. Fifty percent of that $8 million would be allocated equally between the eight regional councils ($500,000 each) and the remaining 50% would be awarded based on a "funding formula established jointly by the Department of Commerce and the association of regional councils," the bill said. An amendment to the bill has taken the provided funding down to $1 million. The amended bill passed with 12 votes in favor and two opposed.
The House Finance and Taxation Committee
heard testimony
in support of the bill on Tuesday, Feb. 4, from a variety of sources, including Monson and members of regional councils. Monson, a member of the county job development authorities for Pembina and Cavalier counties, said he put the bill in for local job development people and the regional planning council. Dawn Mandt, executive director of the Red River Regional Council, was the one who got him involved.
"She works closely with the job development authorities and she's the one who put the bug in my ear that they needed funding. I took it from there for her," Monson said.
Mandt said she and other supporters of the bill are advocating for the funding to reach a minimum of $5.75 million, though it might be a challenge. She appreciates that people understand there is a need for funding, but she believes there is still a lack of understanding in what regional councils and economic developers do. Within the conversation of the first hearing was how regional councils help with grant writing, but there's more that they do within the years it can take for a project to move along, Mandt said.
"Our roles are really difficult to describe, and so it's not that they were at fault or anything. It's just the breadth of what we do is maybe not well understood," she said.
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