Home » Information » Township Funding »

Township Infrastructure Fund 

Often referred to as "Operation Prairie Dog" (HB 1066, 2019 Session), distributed equal amounts to each congressional township in non-oil-producing counties*. (Note some civil townships consist of more than one congressional township). Distributions are made once per biennium if the oil & gas tax collections have been sufficient to allow money to flow into the fund. Prairie Dog did not pay out in 2021 but did pay out in 2023 and 2025. Click the links below for the reports of payments to each township grouped by county.

"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.

March 2025 Prairie Dog Payment $9,408.43 per Township

January 2023 Prairie Dog Payment $9,160.53 per Township

 

NDCC 57-51.1-07.8. County and township infrastructure fund - Continuing appropriation - State treasurer - Reports.

Operation Prairie Dog - 2025 Changes

During the 2025 Legislative Session, Senate Bill 2012 (SB 2012) was passed, amending the distribution known as "Operation Prairie Dog."  A copy of the final bill can be found here. 

Oil and Gas Gross Production Tax Distribution Changes:

"Operation Prairie Dog," as it had been dubbed and created by House Bill 1066 during the 66th Legislative Assembly (2019), made numerous changes to the oil and gas gross production tax distribution formula and provided for a new source of infrastructure funding for cities, counties, and townships in non-oil-producing counties and airports throughout the state.

In 2025, SB 2012 reduced the allocations to the infrastructure funds from $250,000,000 of oil and gas tax revenue per biennium to $180,000,000 and moved the infrastructure fund "bucket" up so it may fill earlier in the biennium. In addition to reducing the allocations to the infrastructure funds, SB 2012 appropriates 50% of the funds related to the Municipal Infrastructure Fund and County and Township Infrastructure Fund as a direct distribution from the Office of State Treasurer and appropriates 50% of the funds to North Dakota Department of Transportation for grants. For more information related to grants through Department of Transportation (DOT), more information about the grant programs can be found here: NDTOA.COM/GRANTS.

To see how the oil and gas tax revenue will be distributed under these changes, along with how they have been distributed in the past, click here.

Infrastructure Funds:

SB 2012 allocates up to $180,000,000 of oil and gas tax revenue per biennium to infrastructure funds as follows:

For information regarding timing, project eligibility, and reporting requirements for the municipal and county/township funds, please click on the specific fund above. For further information regarding the Airport Infrastructure Fund, please contact the Aeronautics Commission.

County and Township Infrastructure Fund - 2025

Senate Bill 2012 (SB 2012) allocates up to $80,000,000 per biennium to non-oil-producing counties and the townships within these non-oil-producing counties for "road and bridge infrastructure projects" with up to $40,000,000 to be distributed by the Office of State Treasurer and adds additional requirements for organized and unorganized townships to be eligible to receive the township infrastructure portion.  The remaining $40,000,000 will be appropriated to the Department of Transportation (DOT) for grants.  For more information related to grants through Department of Transportation (DOT), please visit DOT's website detailing grant and funding programs.

Amounts:

The $40,000,000 is to be divided between the counties and townships as follows:

  • 13%, or $5,200,000, among the townships in non-oil-producing counties,
  • 87%, or $34,800,000, among the non-oil-producing counties.

During the 2025 Legislative Session, House Bill 1065 (HB 1065) was passed amending the distribution from an equal allocation to an allocation proportional to road miles.  A copy of the final bill can be found here. 

The township amount will be distributed proportionately based on township road miles to all qualifying townships in non-oil counties.  Based on current data and the additional requirements for eligibility, the Office of State Treasurer is unable to provide any estimates. This money will be distributed to the county for further allocation to the organized townships. In the case of unorganized townships, the county will retain the money for use on unorganized township roads. See “Eligibility Requirements” below for more information to determine the status of your county or township.

The county amount will be allocated to the non-oil-producing counties based on the most recently completed Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute's needs study. The distribution to each county is to be proportional to each county's total estimated needs relative to the combined needs of all eligible counties.

Eligibility Requirements:

SB 2012, Section 17 added the following criteria for townships to be eligible to receive a direct distribution from the Township Infrastructure Fund.

Unorganized Townships:

  • A county must levy at least eighteen mills for unorganized township road and bridge purposes

Organized Townships:

  1. Must levy at least eighteen mills for general purposes AND
  2. Have a general fund balance of less than one hundred thousand dollars as of December thirty-first of the prior year.

The Office of State Treasurer will be using data from ND Tax Commissioner’s Taxpayer Access Point (TAP) to retrieve the mill levy data; therefore, no additional certification will be required by the counties.

The Office of State Treasurer will send correspondence to non-oil-producing counties in the last quarter of calendar year 2025 regarding the process to certify the general fund balance of organized townships. The certification will need to be returned to the Office of State Treasurer the first quarter of 2026.

Estimated Direct Payments to Townships:

Future Prairie Dog payments will be based on the road miles that each township certifies to its county as maintained. Since half of the County and Township Infrastructure Fund is being diverted to grants through the NDDOT, only $5.2 million will be available for direct payments on about 46,940 miles of township roads in the eligible counties. Based on these numbers, the payments would be about $110 per maintained mile. This number could be impacted if a significant number of townships are disqualified due to having a tax levy less than 18 mills or an ending fund balance exceeding $100,000 at year's end in 2025.

Eligible Projects:

NDCC 57-51.1-07.8  defines "road and bridge infrastructure projects" as follows...

"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.

Timing:

The timing of these distributions will be dependent on when the County and Township Infrastructure Fund bucket is filled during the biennium. Distributions will occur the month after the fund reaches its biennial cap of $80,000,000, or the end of the biennium if it doesn't fill completely.

straight