A North Dakota House Appropriations subcommittee is advancing a plan that would provide some inflationary funds to keep construction moving on the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project.

The Education and Environment Subcommittee voted Thursday to send a water resources budget to the full Appropriations Committee that includes $125 million for MREFPP, which is about $49 million more than the legislative intent set by the 2023 Legislature. The previous Legislature had indicated $76.1 million a biennium could be provided as the state’s share to complete the project by 2035.

“The proposed appropriation will allow construction to proceed on improvements throughout the basin, including the Maple Diversion in Minot.,” said Ryan Ackerman, administrator for the Souris River Joint Board, which oversees the MREFPP. “If the committee recommendation holds through final passage of the bill, the escalated funding will allow us to counteract the effects of inflation and keep us on schedule to complete the project around 2035.”

However, he added the actual completion date will be dependent upon future appropriations as well as construction inflation.

David Lakefield, City of Minot finance director, attended the subcommittee work session at which legislators approved the proposed budget 7-0. He said the subcommittee’s approach in getting larger projects more upfront money is designed to result in a lower expense in the long run.

“The longer they drag out, the more expensive they get,” he explained.

Subcommittee vice chair, Rep. Steve Swiontek, R-Fargo, who outlined the 14-year water resources plan to the subcommittee, said during the work session that the two large flood protection projects for the Mouse River and the Red River consume a major share of the funding available to water projects.

“As soon as we can get those off the books, the better it is for all other types of projects in North Dakota,” he said.

House Bill 1020, as advanced by the subcommittee, also provides for a $200 million line of credit that would ensure money is accessible for MREFPP and the Red River project even if the balance in the Water Resources Trust Fund temporarily runs low, threatening the ability to authorize more work.

“We, hopefully, never actually need to tap into it. We would see it almost as an overdraft privilege,” Reice Haase, director of the Department of Water Resources, said.

Swiontek said the bill also allows transfer of some funds among projects, enabling the MREFPP to obtain more dollars if it can utilize them.

In addition, the bill includes $12..6 million for the Northwest Area Water Supply Project, which would bring Missouri River water to Minot and the region.