FARGO — Leaders of the Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion project hope a promise to match funding will sweeten the deal for Minnesota lawmakers deciding whether to fund portions of the project.
On Thursday, April 23, the Diversion Board of Authority approved a resolution authorizing the Metro Flood Diversion Authority to match funds received from the state of Minnesota. The Diversion Authority is seeking those funds to pay for flood control projects related to the diversion on the Minnesota side of the river. The resolution allows the Diversion Authority to provide a 50-50 match for any state funds put toward the project with soon-to-be-released
In full, the Diversion Authority needs $64.07 million to complete flood control projects on the Minnesota side of the river that tie into the larger diversion project. With the federal funding match, the Diversion Authority plans to reduce its request to $32 million from the Legislature, according to Diversion Authority Executive Director Jason Benson.
“Having these projects shovel-ready, part of a much larger project that is near completion and then having a federal match, all those definitely increase the odds that we’re going to get some funding out of the Legislature,” Benson said.
The $3.2 billion diversion project will protect the Fargo-Moorhead metro area from extreme floods. When the Red River is flooding, water will be held behind a 22-mile earthen embankment and routed around the Fargo-Moorhead metro through a 30-mile diversion channel on the North Dakota side.
The project is on track to be substantially completed by fall 2026, ready to operate in spring 2027.
The total amount needed for work on the Minnesota side includes
$18.5 million for flood control lift station improvements
in the city of Moorhead. At present, those lift stations are operated manually using tractors. Improvements would give the lift stations a permanent source of power.
The remaining $45.57 million would go to portions of the project outside of Moorhead.
Along with money from the state of Minnesota, the diversion is funded by $750 million in federal funds, $850 million from the state of North Dakota and $1.5 billion in local sales tax revenues.
Funding for the match comes from a
federal funding shift announced earlier this year.
In January, Sen. John Hoeven announced that around $100 million in federal savings from the $750 million federal portion of the project would be transferred to the Diversion Authority later this year.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the federal portions of the project, is expected to finish ahead of time and under budget.
During Thursday’s meeting, Moorhead Mayor Shelly Carlson said she thinks the matching dollars will make a difference in St. Paul.
“When we were having conversations about this policy, they said it would be a game changer,” Carlson said.
The Diversion Authority, city of Moorhead and Clay County are pursuing funding through the Minnesota bonding bill, which uses general obligation bonds to pay for capital investment projects across the state.
