Budgeting and Appropriations | Biennial enactment of two 12-month budgets; fiscal year begins July 1. State executive agencies, including ODOT, submit a budget request to the Office of Budget and Management, which then makes recommendations to the governor. The governor submits a budget bill to the General Assembly, and has line item veto power over the legislatively approved version. |
Bonding or Pay-as-You-Go | Combination of bonding and pay-as-you-go financing. State motor fuel tax revenues are supplemented by state highway bonds that are retired with motor fuel tax proceeds and by GARVEE bonds that are retired primarily with federal-aid highway program revenues. |
State-Level Funding Provided for DOT Budgets | FY 2011 (approved): $1.29 billion |
Allocation of Federal Transportation Funds to the DOT | Federal transportation funds are allocated to ODOT by legislative appropriation based on line items rather than by programs or projects. The governor's budget submission to the General Assembly, however, includes a document that details the programs funded within each line item. |
Allocation of State Transportation Funds to the DOT | As with federal transportation funds, state transportation funds are allocated to ODOT by legislative appropriation based on line items. |
Traditional State Funding and Finance for Highways | Fuel taxes; vehicle registration/license/title fees; truck weight fees; interest income; leases of right- of-way; highway logo sign program; general obligation bonds; miscellaneous. The Ohio Turnpike Commission is not a state agency and is not appropriated state funds; it manages the turnpike using revenues from tolls; service concession agreements; truck weight fees; a portion of the tax on fuel sold at turnpike gas stations; and other sources. |
State Funding and Finance for Other Modes | Transit: General fund appropriations for transit system operating and capital grant support. Rail (via a dedicated fund): General funds; loan repayments; loan servicing fees; permit fees; private contributions. Aviation (via a dedicated fund): General funds; aircraft registration fees. Bridges: Included with highways. |
Innovative Transportation Funding and Finance | GARVEE bonds; Build America Bonds; state infrastructure bank (separate federally and state-only capitalized accounts); PPPs (authorized by 2011 Ohio Laws, House Bill 114); design-build (authorized in statute); traffic camera fees; advance construction; toll credits or "soft match." The state transportation budget increased the limit on ODOT design-build contracts from $250 million to $1 billion for FY 2010 - 2011 only. |
Dedicated/Restricted State Funds and Revenues | The state constitution restricts expenditure of revenues from fuel tax and vehicle fees to certain uses, including highway obligations; construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of public highways and bridges; other statutory highway purposes; state enforcement of traffic laws; and hospitalization of indigent people injured in motor vehicle accidents on public highways (Ohio Const. art. XII, §5a; also in Ohio Rev. Code. Ann. §5501.05). State statute provides that, to the extent practicable, Ohio products, materials, services and labor shall be used in any project financed in whole or in part from the Highway Capital Improvement Fund (Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §5528.53). Use of the Rail Development Fund is restricted to rail-related purposes (Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §4981.09). Use of the Airport Assistance fund is restricted to maintenance and capital improvements of publicly owned airports (Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §4561.21(B)). |
DOT Authorized to Retain Surplus Funds | Yes, inasmuch as the transportation budget bill routinely includes language permitting unencumbered appropriations remaining at the end of one fiscal year to be reappropriated into the next. Reappropriations are subject to the approval of the director of the Office of Budget and Management. |
Legislative Approval Required to Move Funds Between Projects | No legislative approval is required. |
Transportation Funding Allocations through Local Aid | Portions of each of the five levies making up the state fuel tax are allocated to counties, townships and municipalities by formula. The percentages allocated to municipalities as a whole then are distributed to individual municipalities by formula based on number of motor vehicle registrations. The percentages for counties as a whole are distributed among counties equally, and the same is done for townships. The main operating budget appropriates these distributions in two line items corresponding to the funds that receive the revenue, the Gasoline Excise Tax Fund (created in Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §5735.27) and the State and Local Government Highway Distribution Fund (created in Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §5735.23(B)(1)). State statute generally applies the restrictions on fuel tax revenue used by the state to fuel tax revenue distributed to local governments (Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §5735.27). Likewise, a portion of the revenue from motor vehicle license taxes is distributed to local governments according to a statutory formula. Five percent of these funds are divided equally among all of the counties in the state, 9 percent among all counties by a formula based on county road miles and 5 percent among townships by a formula based on township road miles (Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §4501.04). License tax revenues are appropriated mainly in one line item in the main operating budget. Sub-allocated federal funding for local projects also is included within the ODOT budget and appropriated in two line items, one for federal funds and the other for local matching dollars. ODOT has discretion in allocating these funds to various programs, and selects projects to fund using a criteria-based process. |