Chris Evers727-638-1699

Let’s fix funding!

Let’s Fix Funding!

“It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.”

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Yogi Berra, New York Yankees

1 How do we currently fund our roads

How much actually gets to the road2

3

4

Panel Discussion

How do we fix funding and when

Let’s fix funding strategy

Florida Department of Transportation

FLORIDA’S HIGHWAYS

• State Highway System (FDOT Maintained)– State Roads, US & Interstate Highways– 12,116 centerline miles– 6,783 bridges– 54% of all traffic

• Local Governments:– 107,674 centerline miles– 5,091 bridges

• Federal Government:– 2,315 centerline miles– 290 bridges

• State Highway System (FDOT Maintained)– State Roads, US & Interstate Highways– 12,116 centerline miles– 6,783 bridges– 54% of all traffic

• Local Governments:– 107,674 centerline miles– 5,091 bridges

• Federal Government:– 2,315 centerline miles– 290 bridges

2013 U.S. Infrastructure Needs

ASCE 2013 Report Card

How do we currently fund our roads?

State Transportation RevenueFiscal Year 2013-14

Florida Department of Transportation

STATE TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND

Receipts (Millions)

State Transportation Trust Fund

$6,348

Motor Vehicle Fees $939

Miscellaneous Revenue,

Reimbursements/Participations, Interest

$604

Rental Car Surcharge

$124

Aviation Fuels $36

Documentary Stamps

$271

Federal Aid Reimbursement

$2,432

Fuel Taxes $1,943

Work Program

Local Government spending

How are we funding roads?

How are we funding roads?

How are we funding roads?

How are we funding roads?

How are we funding roads?

Locally Imposed Fuel TaxesDistributed to Local Governments

$0

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

$700

$800

$900

$1,000

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

$ in

Mill

ions 9th Cent

Local Option

Actual through fiscal year 2014, 2015 through 2020 based on Spring 2015 Revenue Estimating Conference

Untapped Locally Imposed Fuel Taxes

$0

$50

$100

$150

$200

$250

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

$ in

Mill

ions

9th Cent

Local Option

Actual through fiscal year 2014, 2015 through 2020 based on Spring 2015 Revenue Estimating Conference

Local Option Sales Tax Charter County Transportation System Surtax –

approved by vote of citizens 31 counties are eligible to levy the surtax Duval, Walton, and Miami-Dade have enacted

Local Government Infrastructure Surtax All counties eligible to levy the surtax, 18 have enacted

Small County Surtax 31 counties eligible to levy the surtax, 29 have enacted

http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/ to find the Counties that have implemented the tax as of 2015

How are we funding roads?

Impact of indexing fuel sales tax

Roads vs. AT&TAverage driver logs 12,000 miles per year @ 24 mpg

Average driver uses 500 gallons per year

In Hillsborough County they pay $0.50 per gallon

Average Driver pays $250/yr or just over $20 a month

The argument goes that an extra $0.05/gal or $2/month would anger the electorate

How much gets to the road?

How much gets to the road?• Statewide we really don’t know• When I looked for the answer I found that the figures were too broad

to be sure• We don’t do a very good job of tracking expenditures• What I did find was this:

– Many agencies seem to have trouble funneling money down to the project level– Some agencies have depended on fuel taxes to fund operations (Statutory intent

ignored?)– The amount of asphalt use in the State has dropped dramatically (easiest way to

track since 97% of roads are asphalt) about 40% drop since 2006– Disconnect between statutory intent and practice– Huge unfunded needs that could be met with shift in either policy or attitudinal

shift, both– Many of the non-transportation budget items actually are dependent on quality

and safe infrastructure

Historical FDOT Asphalt Tonnages

Historical Florida Asphalt Tonnages

Florida Department of Transportation

Historical Statewide Performance

$0

$50

$100

$150

$200

$250

$300

$350

$400

$450

$500

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

$ in

Mill

ions

Veterans Programs

SEED Transfers

Agriculture

DEP & GFC

Tourism & Trade

Admin Charges

GR Service Charges

GR Fund Transfers

Education

Transportation Revenue Used For Non-Transportation Purposes

Actual through fiscal year 2014, 2015 through 2020 based on Spring 2015 Revenue Estimating Conference

How do we fix it and when?

The answer should be now• Gas prices have dropped significantly in the

last year• Even in DC attitudes towards increasing the

gas tax have softened• Is indexing looked at the same as raising taxes?

It shouldn’t be!• We may have a window to act but need to come

up with a game plan• What I did find was this:

– What’s good for the goose? State fuel taxes are indexed while Federal and Local are not

– Statutes could be more clear and have more teeth– Political Engineering will be required to increase

local fuel taxes

Gas Prices have dropped significantly

Revenue Stream Challenge:The Future of Fuel Tax

Various market pressures are driving up average vehicular fuel efficiencies

Alternative fuels are exempt from fuel taxes (CNG)

Corporate fuel economy standards for new cars will increase from 35.5 MPG in 2016 to 54.5 MPG in 2025

The average driver will pay less for use of the roadway network in the future Fuel taxes paid decrease as fuel efficiency increases

The fuel tax will become a less sustainable and less equitable fee for road use

Graphing the bad news

Revenue Stream Challenge:The Future of Fuel Tax

Let’s fix funding strategy

Public Opinion

What’s the public perception of our roads?

Public Opinion

Public Opinion

Politics – Funding in Florida• Out of 67 Counties only 22 have zero unutilized

County-Imposed gas tax

• Using Hillsborough as an example with 3,318 centerline miles (7,700 lane miles) of paved road their $3M resurfacing budget puts them on a 148 year paving cycle

• That additional 5¢ would generate nearly $30M per year which would wipe out their funding shortfall

• Madison County has 242 centerline miles, industry standard is 20 year paving cycle meaning Madison County should be paving at least 12 miles per year expending $1,815,000

• Instead the County was operating with a 61 year paving cycle

• Madison County purchases a piece of equipment costing $46,851,200– This piece of equipment is vital to all

economic activity in the County– Other tax revenue would not exist without

this equipment– Not investing in upkeep costs every taxpayer

in the County (19,115) since every single taxpayer uses it

– If we let this piece of equipment completely deteriorate it, a new one could cost us as much as 10 times what we paid for it

Communicating with Stakeholders

Communicating with Stakeholders

Important to use everyday examples, analogies

Preventative Medicine is the model we want to shoot for

In infrastructure, the longer we wait the bigger the bill

When you brush your teeth, do you brush only the worst teeth

Why then would we only address the worst roads

What can we do?

• Admit we have a problem and define it– As an industry and a community we should discuss the

issue and begin to mobilize

• Engage elected officials and taxpayers– Continue the education process any way possible whether

that means engaging with legislators, writing editorials or having these panels

• Find partners and champions– We all know folks who can help, private trade organizations

who benefit from added spending (FES, FICE, FTBA, ASCE) other public works organizations (APWA, FACERS)

What can we do?• Some fixes exist at the County level and will benefit the Cities

within the County– Let’s get all of the PWD’s together and game plan how to get the

unutilized gas tax money utilized

• Statutory fixes may also be required– Work with Tallahassee to index the fuel taxes that are distributed to

local governments

• Educate decision makers on the impact ill advised policy has on our roadway health– What are Counties waiting for relating to unimposed?– Are local agencies allocating fuel tax funding to operations? Hint: (not

supposed to!) – Does management know that not maxing out fuel taxes could cost

matching funds from FDOT?

So what harm comes of asking? They might say yes…

But haven’t we failed before?• We’ve tried some of these approaches

before so how do we succeed this time? • We change the conversation, use our

recess voice and explain the true scope of the problem

• We recruit a champion before hand• Get creative with presenting our material

The time to prepare for the future of transportation is now

SELF DRIVING CARS

SELF DRIVING CARSHuge opportunity • Dependent on smooth pavements• Reduction in capacity requirements• Game changer in productivity,

healthcare etc.

Our Nation’s most valuable asset

“It was not our wealth that made our highways possible; rather it was our highways that made our wealth possible” Thomas MacDonald,

former U.S. Commissionerof Public Roads

Chris Evers727-638-1699

Let’s fix funding!