Burleigh County committee moves ahead on Missouri Valley Complex rezoning and budget review after finance questions

The Missouri Valley Complex stakeholder committee in Burleigh County approved its prior meeting minutes and reviewed a substantially larger 2025 operating budget while asking county finance staff to clarify the status and liquidity of a long‑term reserve account.

Committee members voted to approve the minutes as amended. County staff told the committee the complex’s 2024 operating budget was $78,100 and the 2025 operating budget now shows $189,400, with line items including $9,400 for utilities, $61,925 for contracted services, $15,000 for supplies and a $2,000 allocation for the County Fairgrounds.

The committee pressed county financial staff and the auditor about a reserve account tied to the complex. Staff reported the account includes long‑term investments that cannot be cashed immediately, with about $200,000 described as liquid and the remainder in longer‑term holdings. Staff also told the committee that a state audit identified that interest earned on invested county funds has been posted to the county general fund instead of being credited back to the originating funds, a practice the finance director and board are working to remedy.

Why it matters: committee members said accurate accounting of the reserve and interest is important before committing to facility projects. Several members asked for a detailed history of the reserve fund — when funds were deposited, what amounts (if any) were used to subsidize the general fund, and the exact liquidity — and directed staff to bring that information to the next meeting.

The committee also heard a presentation and initial site discussion with a community representative seeking to rebuild a dirt stock‑car practice track on complex land. Josh, representing local stock‑car interests, told the committee the group wants to restore or relocate the dirt track to provide a practice facility aimed primarily at youth racers and to separate youth activity from adult racers. Jason, a planner with Swenson & Hagen, outlined the planning process the county had authorized and urged stakeholders to provide programmatic needs (expected attendance, RV/camping demand, parking, days of use) so the firm can place facilities and design appropriate road and utility networks.

During that planning discussion the committee and consultant discussed several implementation constraints: an upcoming sewer line and lift station that will cross part of the site; existing utility easements and roadways; required title work and updated platting; and the practical scale of parking and RV areas for festival or race events. Jason recommended a focused, two‑hour stakeholder workshop to gather basic program inputs and suggested the consultant would reuse earlier mapping and topographic work from a 2010 plan as a starting point.

Committee direction and next steps: the committee authorized staff to start the zoning application to convert the site’s current Planned Unit Development (PUD) designation to a public zoning classification to reduce operating restrictions and to allow the planning process to move forward. Jason said he would coordinate title and plat work with county staff and would begin the formal zoning application process. Committee members agreed to make the complex’s platting and zoning a primary focus for the next meeting and to ask county finance staff to return with the requested reserve‑account detail.

Votes at a glance: the committee recorded one formal vote during the meeting: approval of the prior meeting minutes as amended (motion by M. Horning; second recorded but not attributed in the transcript; outcome: approved).