[L]awmakers will review a plan to cut $2.8 million from the state’s transportation budget later this month.
Economists reduced projections for how much revenue is expected to come into the transportation fund for the current year at a meeting in July. The new estimates, which were adopted by the Emergency Board, anticipate that there will be $2.8 million less in revenue than the estimates that were used to build the budget during the most recent legislative session.
The total amount of revenue that had been expected was $612.6 million.
According to Transportation Secretary Chris Cole, the administration was able to reduce the budget without delaying any construction projects.
“The focus on this rescission plan was not to delay any projects which communities very much want and we very much want to deliver,” Cole said.
The plan involves finding savings in the budget of a Department of Motor Vehicles system project, reducing funding for materials that were already paid for last winter, transferring excess cash from the central garage fund, and other changes.
Cole said that revenue returns in the first two months of the fiscal year, which began on July 1, have been below target. If that continues, the transportation budget may need to be cut further, he said.
“It’s not trending in the right direction, but the jury’s still out on where we’re going to end up,” Cole said.
According to Cole, revenues have not met targets so far this year largely because of the purchase and use tax on vehicles. However he is optimistic that revenues could rebound. Foliage season also tends to be a period when the transportation fund does well, Cole said, because it attracts tourists who drive around the state and pay gas taxes.
Sen. Dick Mazza, D-Grand Isle, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, spoke with Cole about the rescission plan last week. He thinks the six proposals to find savings are “all doable,” he said.
“It was very minor when you think of the overall budget,” Mazza said.
Mazza said that the state will likely need to reconsider revenue sources for the transportation fund at some point, especially fuel efficient vehicles become more common.
A public hearing on the rescission plan will be held on Sept. 15 at the Statehouse. The proposal must be approved by the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee and the Joint Fiscal Committee.
