The Highway, Road and Street Fund Distribution Formula (including the Local Road and Street Fund, the "LRS")
The Highway, Road and Street Fund Distribution divided almost $170 million among state and local govenrments in fiscal year 2000 (July 1999 to June 2000).
The table shows the sources and uses of the money. Revenue comes from three sources. About 3/5s comes from gasoline tax revenues, and most of the remainder from special fuel (diesel) tax revenues. A bit more than ten percent comes form license fees collected by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Revenue in fiscal 2000 was about $170 million.
Of this money, about $93 million (55%) goes to the State Department of Transportation, and the remaining $76 million (45%) goes to counties, cities and towns.
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DISTRIBUTION OF HIGHWAY, ROAD AND STREET FUND JULY 1, 1999 TO JUNE 30, 2000 |
|
| Revenues | |
| Gasoline Tax | 102,566,101 |
| Special Fuel Tax | 48,410,578 |
| License Fees | 18,813,336 |
| TOTAL REVENUE | 169,790,015 |
| Expenditures | |
| State Dept. of Transportation | 93,378,104 |
| Counties, Cities and Towns | 76,411,911 |
| TOTAL DISTRIBUTIONS | 169,790,015 |
The pie charts represent the Highway, Road and Street formula. The revenue for distribution is the motor fuel and license revenue, $170 million in fiscal 2000. 55% of the revenue is distributed to the State Department of Transportation, which was $93 million in fiscal 2000.
The remaining 45% goes to local governments. This distribution is called the Local Road and Street Distribution, or "LRS". It is first divided among counties, based on the share of each county in total state passenger car registrations. Only passenger cars are counted in this formula, not total motor vehicles (and particularly not pickup trucks). This is a source of controversy.
Once each county has received its distribution, it is divided between the county government, and the cities and towns within the county. If the county's population is less than 50,000, 80% of the revenue is divided among the county, cities and towns based on shares in total county road mileage. 20% is divided based on population, with the county receiving a share equal to the population in unincorporated areas, that is, outside of cities or towns. If the county's population is 50,000 or more, 40% of the revenue is divided based on road miles, and 60% based on population.
Suppose, for example, Wobblyraft County has just one town, Smallville. Suppose that Wobblyraft has 1% of all statewide passenger car registrations. Suppose also that Smallville has 50% of the county's population, and 20% of the county's road miles within its boundaries, and suppose that total county population is less than 50,000. The LRS formula distributions would be:
| Local Road and Street Distribution | $76 million | Wobblyraft County | Smallville Town | |||
| Wobblyraft's Share of Statewide Passenger Cars | 1% | $760,000 | ||||
| Road Miles | 80% | $608,000 | 80% | $486,000 | 20% | $122,000 |
| Population | 20% | $152,000 | 50% | $76,000 | 50% | $76,000 |
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Total LRS Revenue |
$562,000 | $198,000 | ||||
In the LRS formula, Wobblyraft County would get $760,000 to divide between the county and town. This is 1% of the state total, based on the county's share of passenger car registrations. Since the county has less than 50,000 people, 80% of this revenue ($608,000) is divided between the county and city based on road miles, and 20% based on population. If the county had 50,000 or more people, the percentages would be 40% and 60%, respectively. In this example, the county government is responsible for maintaining 80% of Wobblyraft's total road miles, so it gets 80% of the road mile revenue share, $486,000. Half of the population resides outside of Smallville, in the unincorporated part of the county, so the county government gets half the population revenue share, $76,000. Smallville gets the remainder. In total, the county gets $562,000 and the town gets $198,000.