Flooding Prompts New Scrutiny of North Dakota Disaster Aid

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North Dakota’s spring flooding problems have focused new attention on a proposed $44 million state disaster fund that a Fargo lawmaker wants to establish.

“Setting the money aside is more critical than it’s ever been right now,” said Rep. Rick Berg, R-Fargo.

The North Dakota Legislature resumed its work Wednesday, April 1, 2009 after a weeklong hiatus, and lawmakers were discussing how the state should finance its share of flooding cleanup and repair costs.

The previous week, President Barack Obama declared North Dakota a major disaster area. As a result, the federal government will pickup 75 percent of the tab for the flood-fighting expenses of state and local governments, Gov. John Hoeven said.

Reviews will determine later whether federal aid is available for repairing public works and for property owners who suffered flood damage. Teams are surveying several western North Dakota counties this week.

After the 1997 Red River flood that swamped most of the city of Grand Forks, the Legislature gave state agencies authority to seek Bank of North Dakota loans to cover their disaster response costs.

Requests are subject to review by North Dakota’s Emergency Commission, a six-member panel headed by the governor that includes the secretary of state and four legislators.

The Legislature gradually repays the loans after the federal and state shares of cleanup and recovery costs are worked out. The process can take years. The last installment of loans taken out for repairs from the 1997 floods was made only last January, Berg said.

For this year’s flooding, the North Dakota National Guard and the state Department of Emergency Services have so far requested Emergency Commission approval of $32.7 million in spending authority and Bank of North Dakota loans. The board is meeting Thursday to consider the requests.

Berg’s proposed disaster fund would allow agencies to draw money directly, without borrowing or making demands on the state’s general treasury, he said. The bank could then retain the money for other loans, he said.

The fund legislation, which the state Senate is considering, has a suggested $44 million balance because that sum is 10 percent of the state’s disaster expenses for the previous decade, Berg said.

“By setting it aside, we take care of our (disaster) obligation, but at the same time, we’re not putting a burden on other priority needs,” he said.

Rep. Ken Svedjan, R-Grand Forks, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said lawmakers will have to decide whether to borrow the state’s share of disaster expenditures, or re-jigger the next two-year budget to pay cash for them.

“That, of course, will take further analysis to see how that
amount of money fits in,” Svedjan said. “(Paying cash) would be
the smarter way to go, in my view, but we’re going to have to
factor it in to where we are.”
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The bill is HB1503.