A report released Monday by the National Association of Counties (NACo) finds that “federal and state funding for county transportation projects is increasingly inadequate.”
The report, “The Road Ahead: County Transportation Funding and Financing,” which focuses on county-owned roads and bridges, notes that counties build and maintain 45 percent of public roads and 230,690 bridges in addition to their work with a third of U.S. transit and airport systems.
The report points to Federal Highway Administration data, which shows that federal and state funding for local highway projects fell 10 percent between 1998 and 2011. According to the report, that is equal to 16 percent of Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) National Highway Performance Program (NHPP) and the Surface Transportation Program (STP) funding for federal-aid highways, considering that local governments are responsible for 43 percent of the federal-aid highways.
In addition to receiving less funding, local agencies face increased costs for transportation projects, more traffic and limited ways to generate revenue, according to the report.
The cost of construction rose 44 percent between 2000 and 2013, which the report attributes to “fast changing economic environments… especially in states with rapidly expanding oil and gas industries.”
The report also notes that 43 states have limitations on county-collected property taxes — 38 of which “impose statutory limitations on property tax rate, property tax assessments or both.” In 12 states, counties can collect local gas taxes, which are often limited to a maximum rate and require additional approvals.
