Good News! House Bill No. 312 passed providing an increase in highway distribution funds to local entities from gas tax and registration fees.

This is good news for local entities who receive a portion of the Highway Distribution Account (HDA), since they will see an increase in their revenue during the next state fiscal year beginning July 1st 2015.  The first disbursement will be in October 2015, it will be lower since there is a lag with revenue collection.  During the first year of implementation, disbursements during October 2015-September 2016, you will receive approximately a 25% increase in revenue (based on 2014 revenue).  The following years there will be an increase of approximately of 30% in revenue (based on 2014 revenue).

It is important to note that in the house bill there are some specific legislative intents that must be followed:

• The new funding “shall be used exclusively for road and bridge maintenance and replacement projects both      at the state and local level.”
• “It is the intent of the Legislature that…. all local units of government receiving funds collected under the provisions of this act, shall prepare an annual report…. Local units of government shall submit report information to the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council, which shall compile the reporting information into one report for submission.”

LHTAC is working with ITD to make the reporting and separation of funds as easy as possible.  The reporting will be very similar, if not the same as the information that is currently submitted through the Road & Street Finance Report.

Please contact LHTAC with any questions you may have.