The House and Senate conference committee on transportation today approved a $400 million contribution from the General Fund to go towards road fixes. Approximately $140 million will be used to ensure that the state can match all available federal aid highway funds. The remaining $240 million will be distributed to MDOT, county road commissions, and cities and villages. This is different from General Fund spending in each of the last two years when legislator we allowed to select projects throughout the state.

As a result of this budget agreement Cities and villages will receive and additional $56.8 million in FY 16. We will provide the breakdown of these additional dollars when they are available. Although more funding is being provided it still falls far short of the revenue needed and the Legislature cannot sustain the practice of one-time funding for a road fix long term.

John LaMacchia is a Legislative Associate for the League handling transportation, infrastructure, and energy issues. He can be reached at jlamacchia@mml.org or 517-908-0303.