KDOT budget hearing: $400 million 2027 bond tranche, US‑69 toll fund, and revenue outlook

Kansas Department of Transportation officials presented a multi-year budget overview and a bonding plan to the committee, detailing capital spending priorities, revenue sources and debt projections.

Kyle Anderson, who opened the KDOT presentation, said the agency’s budget is almost exclusively funded from the State Highway Fund and reviewed recent actuals and the agency’s revised requests. Anderson listed multiple FY2026 line-item changes including building modernizations, expansions, local construction increases, preservation work and investments in innovative technologies. He also noted the agency is proposing an appropriation tied to last year’s SB 125 and discussed the agency’s practice of reporting tables in thousands.

Bridal Yorkie, assistant director in KDOT’s division of administration, detailed revenue sources and bonding. Yorkie said the State Highway Fund includes sales taxes, registration fees, federal reimbursements and motor fuels tax, and cited estimated State Highway Fund receipts of about $765,000,000 for 2026. She told the committee the motor fuels tax was listed in the materials at about $100,464,000 and that motor fuels tax rates are 24¢ per gallon for gasoline and 26¢ for diesel.

Yorkie and Anderson described a planned $400,000,000 bond tranche in 2027 to support project letting and construction; Yorkie said the agency’s original bonding plan was about $1.2 billion across multiple years. Yorkie reported that total principal outstanding on KDOT bonds is about $1.7 billion and projected that outstanding debt would climb to about $2.0 billion in 2028 before declining as the state pays down principal. She also described statutory limits on bonding, noting the agency’s debt-service cap is described in the materials as not to exceed 18% of revenues.

Representative Ellis asked for where bond totals were listed; Anderson initially referenced a table and a line that appeared to show $185,000,000 outstanding (principal and interest) but KDOT staff later clarified that principal outstanding is roughly $1.7 billion and that the planned 2027 issuance aligns with the agency’s program. Yorkie said the agency intends to continue refunding and paying down debt when opportunities arise, citing prior savings from combined refunding transactions.

Yorkie also flagged a new US 69 express toll lanes fund in the appropriations request to collect and distribute toll fees once the lanes open. On utility relocation costs, Yorkie said responsibility is mixed and that relocations in the right-of-way are KDOT's responsibility.

The committee did not take a formal vote on KDOT’s presentation during the hearing; the Chair closed the hearing and said the committee would resume KDOT budget work the next day.