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Idaho transportation officials ask JFAC for $60M supplemental, reappropriation authority to cover multi‑year road contracts
Summary
At a Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee hearing, Idaho Transportation Department officials asked for a $60 million supplemental and changes to appropriation language to ensure the state can pay contractors on multi‑year projects, citing roughly $600 million in obligated but unspent construction commitments.
ITD officials told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Oct. 24, 2025, that the department needs additional spending authority to complete multi‑year highway projects and avoid payment delays to contractors. The department requested a $60 million supplemental for fiscal 2025 and asked the committee to lift or change limits on reappropriations so obligated, multi‑year projects can be paid when bills come due.
The request covers $10 million from the State Highway Local Fund and $50 million from the State Highway Federal Fund, Brooke Dupree, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, said during the hearing. Dupree also summarized ITD’s larger package, including a requested ongoing capital increase of $57,276,000 tied to additional federal IIJA funds and a requested $99,704,000 general‑fund transfer for safety and capacity projects and $212,000,000 for road and bridge maintenance (split between ITD and local governments as provided by prior practice).
Dave Tolman, ITD’s chief administrative officer, said the department’s “obligated unspent construction program was a little over $600,000,000” at the end of fiscal 2024 and that many projects are multi‑year and funded from multiple sources. Tolman warned the committee that appropriation limits can leave the agency with cash in hand but without the spending authority needed to make contractor payments on projects underway.
ITD requested reappropriation authority up to $250,000,000 and sought statutory language to allow the Strategic Initiatives Program Fund to remain continuously appropriated so that the agency can use transferred funds and prior‑year balances to finish contracted work without repeated annual appropriations. Dupree explained that if the committee does not appropriate dedicated funds annually, the department would not need the second dedicated‑fund appropriation line in the budget book.
Committee members asked how cash‑flow shortfalls were occurring. Director Scott Stokes and staff said the department had faced timing risks this year and last when large, multi‑year projects required payouts across fiscal years. Stokes and Tolman emphasized the problem is not contractor cost overruns but the timing of payments on previously contracted projects and the interaction of multiple funding streams.
The hearing included discussion of GARVEE bond repayment schedules and the Transportation Expansion and Congestion Mitigation (TECM) program, both of which were described in the budget presentation as part of ITD’s financing mix. Dupree told the committee GARVEE bonds have a weighted average interest rate of roughly 3.4 percent and that outstanding GARVEE debt is scheduled to be paid off in 2040.
No formal committee vote on the ITD requests was recorded during the hearing. ITD staff said they would provide updated cash‑balance detail and status reports for individual projects on request.
The department’s requests and the committee’s questions will be considered in follow‑up briefings and in later JFAC budget work sessions.
