Bismarck Mayor applauds Gov. Burgum’s signing of House Bill 1419

Bismarck Mayor Steve Bakken applauds North Dakota legislators and Governor Burgum's signing of House Bill 1419, a bill that would allow cities and counties to collect an infrastructure fee to replace special assessments and special assessment fund balances.

'I thank Governor Burgum for his support and signing this bill. This is an important tool that will now be available to cities and counties to use for infrastructure maintenance costs. I also want to extend special thanks to our local legislators for their exceptional leadership and passage of this bill,' said Mayor Bakken. 'Now the work will begin to consider reconvening the Special Assessment Task Force toward continuing the work that was previously started.' The Special Assessment Task Force included a cross-section of Bismarck residents, city staff, and representatives of the Bismarck business community including realtors, homebuilders, apartment owners, manufactured home park owners, and mortgage lenders.

The city anticipates the Board of Commissioners will reengage the Special Assessment Task Force and review the Street Utility Framework Report prepared for the City of Bismarck by Advanced Engineering Nexus in January 2021.

The city has been working towards replacing street maintenance special assessments, which fund a majority of the city's pavement projects. House Bill 1419, gives the City of Bismarck the ability to charge the fee. It is expected that a request to approve a street utility fee in lieu of special assessments, could be placed on the ballot for Bismarck voters at the earliest in June 2022.