Sources of Financing Capital District Transportation

Current transportation financing is an intricate mix of inter-governmental transfers and other complexities. Funds are raised directly from users (transit fares, for example) for services received, indirectly from users (gasoline taxes, for example) for costs associated with use, and from the public. Both user-based and general revenue sources are used to collect transportation funds at the local level, at the state level and at the federal level. At least seventeen different funding sources are used to finance governmental highway and transit functions in the Capital District.

New York State relies on revenues collected both at the federal level and at the state level to fund its transportation work. CDTA and other transit providers use a mix of federal revenues, state revenues, local revenues and fares. Local governments carry out highway functions primarily with local revenues, but also use state funds and, occasionally, federal funds.

Table 26 on page 199 presents an estimate of the total tax and fee burden to the four-county Capital District's residents and businesses for revenue sources used at least partially for highway and transit purposes.

Due to the complexity of all the inter-governmental transfers and direct and indirect sources, the reader is cautioned to view these numbers as approximations provided to facilitate discussion of new financing ideas. They have been derived from several data sources and are associated with various calendar or fiscal years between 1992 and 1995. For this reason, a range of estimates is provided for each value.

The table also relates the tax and fee sources to their use in financing the program of projects shown in CDTC's 1994-99 Transportation Improvement Program. (It should be noted that the 1994-99 TIP assumes the ability to spend carryover balances of federal authorizations during the five-year period; thus, the annual average federal funds shown in the TIP exceeds a single year's authorizations.)

As shown in Table 26, the governmental highway and transit functions in the Capital District (ranging from snow plowing to building bridges and buying buses) are supported by a mix of federal, state and local-based taxes and fees. CDTC's 1994-99 TIP (and other maintenance and repair work not shown on the TIP) is predicated upon an expectation of:

· approximately $85 M annually in federal funds;

· $154 M annually in state funds; and

· $154 M annually in local funds, developer assessments and transit fares.

(Not shown in Table 26 are other, site-specific highway investments made directly by developers to mitigate traffic impacts.)

Table 26: Highway and Transit Revenue Sources

REVENUE SOURCE with at least partial use for highway or transit	Form of tax/fee	Approximate Total tax & fee collections attributable to the Capital Region		Annual $ to Transportation Reflected in 5-year Capital District Program	Capital District gain/loss in annual revenue from change in tax or fee
		Low	High
Revenues for Federal-aid Program
Federal Fuel Taxes	Dedicated[1]	$55 M	$65 M	$67 M	1¢/gallon = $3.4 M/year
Heavy Vehicle Fees, Excise Taxes	Dedicated	$8 M	$10 M	$10 M
Federal Personal Income Taxes	General[2]	$1550 M	$1800 M	$4 M
Corporate, Other Non-dedicated Taxes	General	$600 M	$700 M	$2 M
Deficit Borrowing	General	--	--	$2 M
Revenues for State Program & State Aid
State Fuel Taxes	Part Dedicated	$25 M	$30 M	$26 M	1¢/gallon = $3.4 M/year
Highway Use Tax (Heavy Vehicles)	Part Dedicated	$8 M	$10 M	$11 M
Vehicle, Driver Registration Fees	General	$22 M	$26 M	$1 M
Petroleum Business Tax	Dedicated	$4 M	$6 M	$6 M
Thruway Tolls[3]	Dedicated	$70 M	$75 M	$72 M
State Personal Income Taxes	General	$440 M	$510 M	$13 M
Corporate, All Other State Taxes	General	$425 M	$500 M	$15 M
Sales Tax (State share is 4%)	General	$275 M	$325 M	$7 M	1¢/$ = $70 M/year
Bonding (borrowing)	General	--	--	$3 M