Funding and Finance

Budgeting and Appropriations	Annual budget; fiscal year begins July 1. The Transportation Commission develops the CDOT budget, subject to review and comment from legislative committees and approval by the governor. Only a few items in the budget are legislatively appropriated in the state budget bill. The entire CDOT budget is reflected in the budget bill for informational purposes.
Bonding or Pay-as-You-Go	Combination of bonding and pay-as-you-go financing
State-Level Funding Provided for DOT Budgets	FY 2011 (approved): $1.0 billion FY 2010: $970 million FY 2009: $1.6 billion FY 2008: $1.1 billion
Allocation of Federal Transportation Funds to the DOT	Federal transportation funds flow directly to CDOT from the U.S. DOT with no state legislative involvement.
Allocation of State Transportation Funds to the DOT	Most state transportation funds flow directly to CDOT with no legislative involvement, besides being reflected in state appropriations for informational purposes only. The General Assembly makes category-level appropriations for CDOT administration and other limited uses.
Traditional State Funding and Finance for Highways	Fuel taxes; vehicle registration/license/title fees; truck weight fees; tolls; interest income; general fund revenues for FY 2012-2016 (2009 Colo. Sess. Laws, Chap. 228); revenue bonds.
State Funding and Finance for Other Modes	Aviation: Aviation fuel taxes. Bridges: Dedicated portion of registration fee revenues. No funding for ports or rail. Transit: General sales tax.
Innovative Transportation Funding and Finance	GARVEE bonds; private activity bonds (PABs) (issued); Build America Bonds; federal credit assistance (TIFIA and TIGER); state infrastructure bank (federally capitalized); congestion pricing; PPPs (authorized in statute, used for at least two projects); design-build (authorized in statute, used as a component of at least six projects); traffic camera fees; impact fees; creation of nonprofit, quasipublic entities; tapered matching; advance construction; toll credits or "soft match." The state has collected a weight-distance tax on commercial vehicles in the past, but that tax has been repealed.
Dedicated/Restricted State Funds and Revenues	The state constitution restricts the use of fuel taxes and other vehicle-related fees or charges to the construction, maintenance and supervision of public highways (Colo. Const. art. X, §18). These revenues are deposited into the Highway Users Tax Fund (HUTF) (Colo. Rev. Stat. §§43-4-201 et seq.), from which statutorily formula-based distributions are made to the State Highway Fund, the State Patrol, motor vehicle regulatory operations in the state Department of Revenue, and local governments. The constitution also requires all aviation fuel taxes to be used for aviation purposes (Colo. Const, art. X, §18).
DOT Authorized to Retain Surplus Funds	Yes.
Legislative Approval Required to Move Funds Between Projects	No, except for some legislatively controlled fund sources and uses that are very limited in the context of CDOT's total budget.
Transportation Funding Allocations through Local Aid		Highway User Tax Fund (HUTF) revenues are distributed to the State Highway Fund (65 percent), counties (26 percent), and cities and towns (9 percent). Revenues for counties are distributed by a statutory formula based on historical allocation ratios, specified percentages, rural motor vehicle registration, countywide motor vehicle registration, lane miles and square feet of bridge deck (Colo. Rev. Stat. §43-4-207). Revenues for cities and towns are distributed by a statutory formula based on adjusted urban motor vehicle registration and street miles (Colo. Rev. Stat. §43-4-208). CDOT makes discretionary grants to local governments for airport improvements; other grants are made, within statutory requirements, for enhanced drunk driving enforcement. The state infrastructure bank makes loans for highway and aviation purposes.