Budgeting and Appropriations | Annual budget; fiscal year begins July 1. |
Bonding or Pay-as-You-Go | Combination of bonding and pay-as-you-go financing; the state tends to pass a transportation bond bill approximately every three years. |
State-Level Funding Provided for DOT Budgets | FY 2011 (proposed as of Sept. 2010): $2.14 billion |
Allocation of Federal Transportation Funds to the DOT | Federal transportation funds flow directly to MassDOT via the Transportation Trust Fund with no state legislative involvement. |
Allocation of State Transportation Funds to the DOT | Certain state transportation revenues-including the gas tax and registration fee revenues and a portion of the sales tax-go into the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, which is subject to annual appropriation by the General Court at the department level. Certain funds-including aviation, planning, highway, rail and transit-are allocated through this fund based on a formula, but still subject to appropriation. Typically, the General Court also appropriates supplemental funding for snow and ice removal. |
Traditional State Funding and Finance for Highways | Fuel taxes; vehicle registration/license/title fees; tolls; general funds; sale of excess land; advertisements; revenue bonds. These are part of the Commonwealth Transportation Fund funding formula. A portion of the sales tax also goes through the Commonwealth Transportation Fund for turnpike debt repayment. |
State Funding and Finance for Other Modes | Transit: Funded by fuel taxes, revenue bonds, service city and town payments, and fares through the Commonwealth Transportation Fund funding formula. A portion of the sales tax goes directly to transit agencies. Rail: Bonds. Aviation and ports are run by a quasi-public entity, MassPort. Bridges: Accelerated Bridge Program. |
Innovative Transportation Funding and Finance | GARVEE bonds; PPPs (authorized in statute, used for at least one project); design-build (authorized in statute, used as a component of at least one project); traffic camera fees; creation of nonprofit, quasi-public entities; toll credits or "soft match." |
Dedicated/Restricted State Funds and Revenues | The state constitution requires that all revenue derived from vehicles-including fuel taxes and fees-be used only for certain transportation purposes, including highways, bridges, mass transit and the enforcement of state traffic laws (Mass. Const., art. LXXVIII). The transportation reform bill that created MassDOT in 2009 (2009 Mass. Acts, Chap. 25) also reconstituted the then-called Highway Fund as the Commonwealth Transportation Fund and established the Transportation Trust Fund; both are multimodal funds. The Commonwealth Transportation Fund mainly uses gas tax and registration fee revenues to pay debt service and contract assistance, subject to annual legislative appropriation. Remaining revenues are transferred annually into the Transportation Trust Fund. The Transportation Trust Fund receives all other transportation revenues, including tolls from the turn pike and the Tobin Bridge, and is used to pay for MassDOT operations and special obligation debt assumed by MassDOT. This fund is managed by MassDOT and is not subject to annual legislative appropriation. The 2009 act also specified that revenue from the turnpike and the Tobin Bridge can be used only for tolled assets. |
DOT Authorized to Retain Surplus Funds | Yes. MassDOT can retain excess funds from the Commonwealth Transportation Fund in the Transportation Trust Fund, which is not subject to appropriation. However, excess funds tend to be minimal because the Commonwealth Transportation Fund is subject to appropriation. |
Legislative Approval Required to Move Funds Between Projects | No, unless it is necessary to change bond bill language that was previously approved. |
Transportation Funding Allocations through Local Aid | Funds are distributed to cities and towns by a statutory formula based on vehicle registrations, road miles and property valuation (Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 81, §31). |