Item 438 #1h (McQuinn) and Item 438 #2s (Marsden) are budget amendments that seek to rewrite the current Revenue Sharing Program prioritization process that would adversely affect county governments.
VACo seeks member feedback on how the proposed budget amendments may affect your locality and the impacts this could have on county-wide infrastructure.
The Revenue Sharing Program provides additional funding for use by a county, city, or town to construct, reconstruct, improve or maintain the highway systems within such county, city, or town and for eligible rural additions in certain counties of the Commonwealth. Locality funds are matched, dollar for dollar, with state funds, with statutory and Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) policy limitations on the amount of state funds authorized per locality.
An annual allocation of funds for this program is designated by the CTB, which is usually $100M yearly. Funds are approved by the CTB in even numbered years for a two-year cycle and are typically programmed in fiscal years three and four of the Six-Year Improvement Program. Revenue Sharing Program funding decisions follow a prioritization process, and per VA Code is as follows:
- Priority 1 – Construction Projects that have previously received Revenue Sharing funding as part of the Program application process.
- Priority 2 – Construction Projects that meet a transportation need identified in VTRANS or when funding will accelerate advertisement of a project in a locality’s capital improvement plan.
- Priority 3 – Projects that address deficient pavement resurfacing and bridge rehabilitation.
What budget amendments Item 438 #1h and Item 438 #2s would do is place the highest priority for funding on applications addressing primary extensions and National Bridge Inventory (NBI) bridge pavement resurfacing projects in cities that receive maintenance funding. Please share your feedback to James Hutzler at jhutzler@vaco.org.
VACo Contact: James Hutzler