OMB details facilities budget, rent model and $34M maintenance fund; updates state hospital and Minot office project

Brandon Solberg, facilities management division director with the Office of Management and Budget, told the Government Operations budget section the division manages 42 authorized FTEs and has several vacancies while overseeing on‑site work at the Capitol Grounds and off‑site projects.

"We've got a lot of material to cover," Solberg said, introducing OMB presentations on the rent model, capital projects and space reconfiguration (first presentation by Brandon Solberg, SEG 077). Crystal Hogarth, OMB fiscal officer, said the facility management budget is financed by two main sources — the general fund and the rent model fund — and that utilities remain the largest and most unpredictable expense. "Utilities continue to be our largest and most unpredictable expenses," she said (Crystal Hogarth, SEG 166).

Why it matters: OMB collects rent from agencies that occupy space on the Capitol Complex and uses those revenues and general fund appropriations to pay daily operations and capital projects. Hogarth said rent collections were $2,900,000 for fiscal year 2024 and $2,800,000 for fiscal year 2025, and that rental rates are set using the state's federally approved cost‑allocation methodology (Statewide Cost Allocation…