ND oil tax trust fund tops $1B

North Dakota oil tax trust fund tops $1B; money comes from state's oil tax collections

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- North Dakota's oil tax fund has topped $1 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.

April deposits were $80.5 million. That brings the fund's total to nearly $1.01 billion.

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.