Western North Dakota’s needs not forgotten
Western North Dakota’s needs not forgotten
Governor’s budget looks encouraging for oil country
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
There’s been a lot of reaction to the budget Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s presented to the Legislature last week and on the surface, it looks encouraging to northwestern North Dakota.
More specifically, additional monies will be provided to the oil and gas producing counties that have been battered by additional traffic, that is, if the Legislature leaves the budget as it is.
Mountrail County, which has become the leading oil-producing county in North Dakota, would finally get some much-needed relief for township, county and state roads over the next biennium.
Pam Sharp, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said there’s a preliminary indication that Mountrail County would receive $40 million for state road repair and additional $10 million for unpaved roads throughout the county.
She said a Department of Transportation survey identified the need of repair that would cost approximiately $50 million. According to Sharp, the money would come from two pots of allocation and it wouldn’t occur overnight.
