Carson Area MPO and Carson City RTC press for diversified funding as local ballot measures failed
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Summary
Carson Area MPO (CAMPO) and the Carson City Regional Transportation Commission told the Senate committee that local revenues are limited, federal formula funds are important, and Carson City has a $21 million annual shortfall for local neighborhood streets; two local ballot measures to raise revenues failed in November.
Officials from the Carson Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Carson City Regional Transportation Commission told the Senate Committee on Growth and Infrastructure that small regional planning agencies rely heavily on federal formula funds and face persistent local-road funding shortfalls.
"CAMPO itself is the planning arm while the RTC handles the implementation and maintenance for the Carson City region," said Chris Martinovich, director of the Carson Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and transportation manager for Carson City Public Works, explaining the relationship between the MPO and the local RTC.
Martinovich said CAMPO's formula apportionment was modest (about $1.85 million in fiscal 2024) and Carson City's RTC collected approximately $4.4 million from motor fuel taxes in fiscal 2024. He said those amounts require careful pooling of funds and occasional local general-fund supplements to deliver projects and maintain roads. Carson City completed a local review of funding options, Preserve Carson City Roads, which resulted in two ballot questions in November; both measures failed.
Martinovich told the committee that the principal local shortfall is for neighborhood (local) streets rather than collectors or arterials, and that the agency has identified an annual need of about $21,000,000 to address those local-street repairs. He said CAMPO and the RTC support diversifying funding, continuing to collaborate with NDOT on grant opportunities, and allowing broader indexing or similar authority statewide so counties can maintain pavements year to year.
Committee members asked about the share of federal funding and whether current federal program changes were affecting CAMPO; Martinovich said he had not yet seen any federal reductions and that federal partners had told them to proceed as normal. The presentation was informational and the committee did not act on measures in this transcript segment.