AASHTO Journal, 1 November 2013
Iowa Department of Transportation officials have begun circulating a list of transportation funding concepts in order to hold discussions with transportation stakeholders. The document serves as an informational piece outlining various options the state could utilize to build revenue to maintain and grow the state’s transportation infrastructure network.
Iowa DOT said it is not working on any legislation for any of the concepts, but hoping the document gets state citizens and stakeholders thinking about investment in transportation infrastructure.
“The Governor challenged us to put together funding options as alternatives to a gas tax increase,” said Iowa Department of Transportation Director Paul Trombino. “We are presenting these concepts to transportation stakeholders to begin conversations about ways we can more adequately fund transportation needs. Transportation plays a part in nearly every aspect of our lives and is the cornerstone of our economy. Our hope is that by communicating why transportation matters and having honest discussions about funding we can work toward solutions that support our system well into the future.”
Iowa DOT put forth several ideas, including:
- Replacing the state’s gas tax with a state excise sales tax on fuel, which would capture inflation as fuel prices increase in the future;
- Applying Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) to fuel sales with move to six percent excise sales tax on fuel sales to generate about $80 million more each year;
- Dedicating aircraft use tax revenue to the State Aviation Fund to maintain, enhance, and support safety of the air transportation system in the state;
- Increasing oversize/overweight vehicle permit fees to cover the costs associated with issuing the permits as well as the impacts to the transportation system caused by the vehicles;
- Upping the new registration fee from 5 percent to 6 percent; and
- Focusing federal funding on the Primary Road System, as Iowa DOT has the expertise and knowledge to more efficiently utilize federal funding, which would need a permit to swap federal funding for state primary road funds on local jurisdiction projects).
These ideas, along with a few others outlined in the document, would bring in an additional $23 million for Iowa DOT highway funding and $107 million more for local highway funding in 2015 alone. That number would grow substantially each year through 2019.
To see Iowa DOT’s full concept document and its ideas for transportation revenue generation, go here.