The House and Senate Transportation Committees released their 2024 supplemental budgets this week, offering few surprises, but some frustration.
First up, the House released its budget Monday, February 19th.
The House funds both of our decision packages (a new FTE for a federal fund facilitator, and dollars for legacy software replacements) using new dollars, as requested.
We are very pleased with this decision as their previous biennial budget had chosen to use existing Rural Arterial Program (RAP) dollars. A very big thank you to the House for this change.
Unfortunately, the House did not return the $4.4 million sweep of funds that had been deposited into the Rural Arterial Program in 2021-2023.
If these dollars are not returned in the final budget, our staff will need to make the difficult decision of whether or not to hold back on funding county projects that were selected with these funds.
The Senate released its budget on Tuesday, February 20.
The Senate budget looks much the same with one big exception – they continue to fund the federal fund facilitator with Rural Arterial Program dollars.
This is disappointing as we, and the Atorney General's office, do not believe it is appropriate to use funds designated for county preservation and maintenance to fund an FTE position that will be assisting cities and tribes in their pursuit of federal grants. When our agency was approached with this request from the legislature, I never imagined they would then expect us to fund it ourselves using RAP program funds.
I testified in the Senate on Wednesday airing my frustration and requested that the Senate follow the House’s lead by using new dollars to fund the FTE.
After this week, the House and Senate will begin negotiating a final budget in anticipation of the Legislature's adjournment in two weeks, leaving few fleeting opportunities for change.
As I stated in my last legislative update, we are committed to the success of our counties and our state, are actively engaging in conversations with stakeholders on these and other transportation issues and always welcome your thoughts, questions and feedback.
Stay tuned for more updates.
