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Committee hears differences between Transportation Project Fund and Local Government Road Fund; members discuss consolidation
Summary
Staff explained statutory differences between the Transportation Project Fund (TPF) and the Local Government Road Fund (LGRF), including different revenue sources and local match requirements; members suggested exploring consolidating the funds to simplify administration.
NMDOT staff described to the House Transportation, Public Works & Capital Improvements Committee how two state programs for local road funding differ in revenue source, matching requirements and program structure and said lawmakers might consider legislative change.
Program differences: NMDOT staff said the Transportation Project Fund (TPF) is financed through a distribution from the motor vehicle excise tax and consistently provides about $52,000,000 annually for competitive awards to communities; it generally requires a 5% local match. The Local Government Road Fund (LGRF), staff said, receives distributions from a petroleum delivery fee (as described in the presentation) and requires a larger match (about 25% in practice). The presenter said that LGRF money is also divided by statute into designated buckets (for example school routes, arterial programs and county cooperative programs).
Why lawmakers flagged it: Representative Lundstrom, who sponsored prior legislation creating those funds, said the two programs can be confusing for applicants and suggested the Appropriations Committee and NMDOT “take a crack” at combining or simplifying the two funds. A staff presenter said the TPF’s lower match aims to make it more accessible to smaller local governments, while the LGRF’s higher match tends to attract larger municipalities and counties with available local resources.
Use of match fund: members also asked about a separate match fund created by the Legislature. A staff presenter said the $75,000,000 match fund exists and that NMDOT had leveraged it for at least one award at a $2,000,000 match level; staff cautioned that the fund could be quickly encumbered by large DOT projects and that agency staff try to preserve capacity so locals can also leverage the resource.
Ending: members and staff agreed to continue discussions; Representative Lundstrom said he would like to work with the department on possible legislation to simplify the two programs.
