Budgeting and Appropriations | Annual budget; fiscal year begins July 1. | |
Bonding or Pay-as-You-Go | The state uses predominantly pay-as-you-go financing, with some bonding. All financing methods, including bonding, require legislative approval. | |
State-Level Funding Provided for DOT Budgets | FY 2011 (approved): $217.4 million | |
Allocation of Federal Transportation Funds to the DOT | Federal transportation funds are allocated to VTrans as a state legislative appropriation at agency, program and project-specific levels. VTrans' annual proposed budget details funding sources on a project-by-project basis (including total funds spent to date and funding needed for completion), but by general statute, the agency has broad discretion to re-allocate funds in certain circumstances. | |
Allocation of State Transportation Funds to the DOT | As with federal funds, state transportation funds are allocated to VTrans as a state legislative appropriation at agency, program and project-specific levels. | |
Traditional State Funding and Finance for Highways | Fuel taxes; additional sales taxes on gasoline or diesel; motor vehicle/rental car sales taxes; vehicle registration/license/title fees; truck weight fees; interest income; general obligation bonds; revenue bonds. General funds have on occasion been transferred to the transportation fund when needed, but this is an exception to the general rule. | |
State Funding and Finance for Other Modes | Transit, rail and aviation: Funded by the same sources as highways through the Transportation Fund. No state funds are dedicated by mode; all transportation-related revenues go into one multimodal Transportation Fund to support the AOT budget and are available to support highways, transit, rail and aviation. The state has no ports or toll bridges. | |
Innovative Transportation Funding and Finance | State infrastructure bank (federally capitalized); design-build (authorized in statute); tapered matching; advance construction; toll credits or "soft match." | |
Dedicated/Restricted State Funds and Revenues | By statute, transportation-related revenues are deposited into the Transportation Fund and reserved primarily for the VTrans budget, though not restricted by mode (Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 19, §§11 et seq.). One exception is the statutory dedication of a portion of the gasoline tax to the Fish and Wildlife Fund and the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 23, §3106). Another is an allocation of a portion of the motor vehicle purchase and use tax to the Education Fund (1998 Vt. Acts, Act 60). A third exception is an allocation of a portion of total Transportation Fund revenues to non-VTrans state government functions. This allocation is part of the annual political process, with the governor's budget proposing an amount and the General Assembly responding. This allocation has generally decreased each year. | |
DOT Authorized to Retain Surplus Funds | Yes and no. Revenues in excess of appropriations are credited to the Transportation Fund, although the annual transportation bill may provide a contingency for their expenditure. State law gives the administration the authority to carry forward any unspent state fund appropriations into the next fiscal year. Unspent federal appropriations lapse and must be reappropriated. The administration may not re-allocate any excess transportation revenue or unspent appropriations to non-transportation purposes. | |
Legislative Approval Required to Move Funds Between Projects | No legislative approval is required. By statute, VTrans has the authority to re-allocate funds in the event of cost overruns, project delays and emergency projects. In such cases, VTrans must notify the Joint Fiscal Office and legislative members in affected districts. | |
Transportation Funding Allocations through Local Aid | State transportation funds are legislatively appropriated to towns for highways or public transit assistance by a statutory formula based on road mileage. State aid is provided for town highway bridges according to a program plan based on applications submitted by towns. There are also annual appropriations for grants to municipalities for highway structures and roadway improvements (Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 19, §306). | |