Appropriations panel reviews NDSU long sheets; Langdon seed plant funding dropped under Armstrong plan, deferred maintenance added

Chairman Wanzek opened a committee review of the long‑sheet budget comparisons for North Dakota State University’s experiment stations and extension service, focusing on differences between the Burgum and Armstrong executive recommendations.

The committee examined omnibus “long sheets” that show the Burgum recommendation, the Armstrong recommendation and a column comparing the two. Grant, a budget staff member, told the panel, “the long sheets just show a comparison between the Burgum and Armstrong budgets.”

Why it matters: the session’s executive recommendations will guide the committee’s appropriation work and potential amendments. The panel discussed several capital and one‑time requests that differ between the two executive proposals and flagged items that would require committee action to carry forward, reauthorize or fund from other sources.

Major differences on seed conditioning and deferred maintenance

Dr. Lardy, the agency representative for the experiment station/extension system, told the committee that the SBARE request included $2,600,000 for a new Langdon seed conditioning plant. “The SBARE request was for the $2,600,000 for the Langdon seed conditioning plant,” Dr. Lardy said. Under the Armstrong recommendation, that funding for a new Langdon plant is not included; the Burgum recommendation had recommended special‑fund authority (CIF/special funds) for the project.

Separately, Armstrong would add $1,500,000 in one‑time deferred maintenance across the system to fully fund the extension service’s deferred‑maintenance request; Burgum had recommended $1,000,000. Dr. Lardy emphasized the two requests are unrelated: the deferred maintenance money was not intended to be used to build or refurbish the Langdon seed plant.

Langdon plant need and capacity

Committee members pressed the agency about why a new plant was requested. Dr. Lardy said the current Langdon facility dates to the 1960s and “there are some health and safety concerns for our staff working in that facility.” He added the current plant “does not do an adequate job of handling some of those specialty crops,” including certain pulse crops and foundation seed varieties that have increased in demand.

Machine sheds and prior project funding

The committee also reviewed requests for three remaining machine sheds. Dr. Lardy said the three would complete the stations’ machine shed program and that finishing them would cost about $1.5 million as a one‑time request. He recounted prior project costs and funding sources: earlier projects combined general fund appropriations with special‑fund authorizations (from local seed sales and private fundraising) and frequently came in under the original authorizations.

Williston carryover and potential amendment

Senator Dwyer said he plans to offer an amendment to carry over previously appropriated funds for the Williston machine shed after a failed bid on that project. The committee noted the agency has funds appropriated in a past biennium tied up for the Williston project; Dr. Lardy said the agency would ask the legislature to carry over those dollars and request additional authority if needed.

Decision packages and staffing flexibility

Committee members reviewed priority decision packages SBARE submitted. Decision package number 4 (research equipment and related operating authority) was requested at $2,530,000; both executive recommendations included $1,630,000 of special‑fund authority (roughly $1,000,000 for research equipment and $630,000 for miscellaneous supplies/operating). The $900,000 requested for graduate research assistantships was not included in either executive recommendation.

Decision package number 5 (biofuels and carbon management) originally requested $525,000 of general fund and two FTEs. The recommendations included roughly $495,000 of general fund; operating amounts were trimmed. Grant explained that the Armstrong recommendation removed explicit FTE authorization in some long sheets while keeping the dollars because higher education language in session law allows campuses to manage FTE counts within salary pools. As he put it, the long sheets show the legislative base and adjustments made across the biennium; the authorization numbers can differ while dollars remain to allow campuses to reassign FTEs under session‑law language.

Nesson (Nesden) Valley facility: carryover and added special‑fund authority

The committee reviewed the Nesson Valley irrigation facility project. The agency said $1,700,000 was previously appropriated (general fund) for that project; the agency requests carryover of those dollars and an additional $1,300,000 in special‑fund authority to complete the project after bids came in above available funding. Dr. Lardy said the agency expects to reissue revised plans and rebid and that the additional $1.3 million is intended to cover inflationary and timing risks. The committee was told the agency has already spent roughly $112,177 on architect and geotechnical work; if the legislature declines carryover and additional authority, the agency would return remaining balances and the spent planning dollars would remain expended.

Northern Crops Institute — new Peltier utilities and a $150,000 request

David Behm, director of the Northern Crops Institute (NCI), told the committee that moving NCI into the Peltier complex generated new utility charges the institute did not previously incur. Behm said the most recent estimate of the biennial utility/operating charge is $737,922 and described the costs as “new utility cost to the Northern Crops Institute that we did not incur before.”

The executive recommendations included $299,000 in general fund and $488,800 in special‑fund authority (total $788,400), which the agency said would cover the estimated utilities; Behm asked the committee to consider an additional $150,000 if the committee wants NCI to preserve funding for trade‑promotion activities such as crop quality surveys and international outreach beyond utility coverage. Behm described NCI’s mission as trade promotion and technical service for value‑added uses and said the institute had 81 countries represented in programs in 2024.

Next steps and committee process

Committee members said they would continue work on amendments and possible compromises between the Burgum and Armstrong recommendations. Senator Dwyer signaled intent to present carryover language and amendments for Williston and other projects. Chairman Wanzek assigned primary shepherding of this budget to Senator Erbley for conference work. The committee did not take votes in this session; members asked for follow‑up information on local fundraising capacity at Langdon and a breakout of long‑sheet numbers for the next meeting.

Quotes attributed in this article come from committee members and agency staff who spoke during the hearing; direct quotes are drawn from the meeting transcript and attributed to the speakers listed in the article’s speaker list.