Agency of Transportation presents largely operational finance and administration budget with limited flexibility

Dana Morris, director of finance and administration for the Agency of Transportation, told the House Transportation Committee on Feb. 7, 2025, that her division's budget is largely operational and offers limited flexibility for new initiatives.

Morris said the finance and administration budget appears in section 4 of the committee’s white book and in the black book. "The rest of our budget is T Fund. So that's a little over $25,000,000. We are a 90% operational budget," she said, explaining the fund mix and constraints.

The division covers audits, financial operations, contracts and grants administration, civil rights and labor compliance, training and safety programs, facilities management, records management and other central services. Morris said a small portion of the division's budget is federal funds used for items such as federal training dollars and grants that fund civil rights and contract-administration staff who sometimes charge time to highway projects.

Morris described specific budget elements: the Office of the Attorney General salary and benefits for staff attorneys who support the agency, the continuation of nine limited-service positions originally authorized in July 2022 in connection with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (two of the originally authorized 11 positions were returned), and a current vacancy rate of 5.8 percent (about 11 positions), most under active recruitment.

She noted program-level grants and operating items such as the National Summer Transportation Institute (MSTI) grant (listed as $50,000 in the materials), service-level agreements with Digital Services and Human Resources, fleet rentals and assigned fleet vehicles, and training and certification costs (safety certification, respirators, CDLs). Morris said assigned fleet vehicles are a mix of hybrid and plug-in electric models to meet operational needs for emergency and safety staff.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about where the materials appear in the books and about fleet composition. Representative Herb asked about assigned vehicles; Morris said hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles are used but hybrids are preferred for certain emergency roles because charging logistics can be difficult in the field.

Morris paused the presentation at the committee's request to move to the Transportation Buildings section of the budget.