North Dakota Township Officers Association - Legacy Fund Highway Distribution Fund

Legacy earnings township highway aid fund

Distribution Frequency – Biennially - (once every two years) 

This payment is approximately $218 per mile of maintained road in each township.

The first payment will go out to the counties in December 2023 and should be in the January 2024 deposits for townships.

Each Biennium, $10 million in Legacy Fund Earnings flows into the Legacy Earnings Township Highway Aid Fund via the Legacy Earnings Highway Distribution Fund formula in NDCC 54-27-19.3 and spent in accordance with NDCC 54-27-19.4. These dollars are distributed to townships in non-oil-producing counties based on the length of the road miles for each township. These funds must be deposited in the township road and bridge fund and used for road and bridge purposes. For any counties that have unorganized townships, the county shall retain those funds and use them for the benefit of that unorganized township, and those dollars must be deposited into the county road and bridge fund.

54-27-19.3. Legacy earnings highway distribution fund.

A legacy earnings highway distribution fund is created as a special fund in the state treasury into which must be deposited any allocations of legacy fund earnings made under section 21-10-13. Any moneys in the legacy earnings highway distribution fund must be allocated and transferred by the state treasurer, as follows:

1. Sixty percent must be transferred to the department of transportation for deposit in the state highway fund;
2. Ten percent must be transferred to the legacy earnings township highway aid fund;
3. One and five-tenths percent must be transferred to the public transportation fund; and
4. Twenty-eight and five-tenths percent must be allocated to cities and counties using the formula established in subsection 4 of section 54-27-19. Moneys received by counties and cities must be used for roadway purposes in accordance with section 11 of article X of the Constitution of North Dakota.

54-27-19.4. Legacy earnings township highway aid fund.
A legacy earnings township highway aid fund is created as a special fund in the state treasury into which must be deposited any allocations of legacy fund earnings made under section 54-27-19.3 which must be allocated as follows:

1. The state treasurer shall allocate and distribute all money in the legacy earnings township highway aid fund to non-oil-producing counties of the state based on the length of township roads in each non-oil-producing county compared to the length of all township roads in all the non-oil-producing counties;
2. The county treasurer shall allocate the funds received to the organized townships in the county based on the length of township roads in each of those organized townships compared to the length of all township roads in the county. The funds received must be deposited in the township road and bridge fund and used for road and bridge purposes;
3. If a county does not have organized townships, or has some organized and some unorganized townships, the county shall retain a pro rata portion of the funds received based on the length of roads in unorganized townships compared to the length of township roads in organized townships in the county. Moneys retained by a county for the benefit of unorganized townships under this section must be deposited in the county road and bridge fund; and
4. For purposes of this section, "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.