FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: March 04, 2025
Time Requested: 03:00 PM |
| Agency: |
Highways, Division of |
|---|
| CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
| 1995 |
Introduced |
SB23 |
|
|---|
| CBD Subject: |
Roads and Transportation |
|---|
|
FUND(S):
Special
Sources of Revenue:
Special Fund
Legislation creates:
Decreases Existing Revenue
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
As a subaccount of the State Road Fund, this bill would authorize the Commissioner to transfer no more than $80 million to the Special Road Repair Fund. According to the bill, this program would result in the following:
(1) The DOH would consult with the county commission of each county and any currently elected member of the Legislature whose district overlaps any portion of the county and submit a list of projects in the county based on priority.
(2) Funding for all grants shall be proportionately based upon the total mileage of non-federal aid eligible county routes in each district, excluding where core maintenance was completed within the previous year. The bill also states that no county shall receive less than $1 million of the available funding.
(3) This is a formulaic funding method that would eliminate the pragmatic and historically successful WVDOH Core Maintenance Plan by removing and reallocating $80 million to a different fund.
(4) This bill has unknown potential costs and risks in the event that the Core Maintenance Plan is not completed for any district as uncompleted activities must be outsourced to vendors at an average project cost of 4 times the cost incurred by DOT to perform those activities itself. As DOT budgets are planned in advance pursuant to Core Maintenance needs and forecasted availability of DOT resources, an unexpected escalation of expenses due to outsourcing could have a calamitous impact on the DOT annual budget with difficult to predict repercussions. Inability to complete activities specified in the Core Maintenance Plan is difficult to predict as it is often associated with unforeseen events; for example, catastrophic flooding results in the diversion of DOT assets from Core Maintenance activities to urgent road repair.
(5) Additional unknown costs associated with the implementation of this bill are variable and related to the cost per district for districts that do not meet Core Maintenance Plan obligation for any reason (including natural disasters). The average district spends $37M annually of which 70% is related to Core Maintenance activities. An unknown percentage of these totals are anticipated to have additional impact on the DOT budget.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2025
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2026
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Personal Services |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Current Expenses |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
-80,000,000 |
-80,000,000 |
-80,000,000 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
A cost of $80 million is listed under "other" because this bill would remove $80 million from the analytically driven Core Maintenance Plan that has been a driver of improvement and success for the WVDOH since implementation to a new budget line, thus reducing the effectiveness of the Core Maintenance Plan. Factors that are impossible to forecast (as discussed above) may increase the financial burden on the DOT.
Memorandum
The bill is clear in its intent, however, the WVDOH implemented Core Maintenance Plan is based on analytical methodology to utilize every available dollar most efficiently for the maintenance of our roadways. The WVDOH has placed core maintenance as its top priority and the Core Maintenance Plan is the backbone of this methodology. An $80 million transfer of spending authority to a special fund would prohibit the DOH from executing the program as designed, essentially costing the Core Maintenance Plan $80 million.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Chris Alder
Email Address: chris.r.alder@wv.gov