DOT midyear briefing: fund swaps, Whittier Tunnel accounting and maintenance cuts explained
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
DOT told legislators a $10.2 million UGF reduction moved the department to use different fund sources, including vehicle rental tax receipts and federal receipts (following a resolved FHWA audit of the Whittier Tunnel). Maintenance and operations cuts resulted when expected surplus and equipment-life extension savings did not materialize.
Department of Transportation & Public Facilities officials told the House Finance subcommittee on Feb. 5 that moving from FY25 to the FY26 management plan involves a $10.2 million reduction in Unrestricted General Fund and shifts toward other fund sources.
"You'll see moving from 2025 to 2026, a pretty significant reduction of 10,200,000.0 in UGF," Dom Pinon said. He said DOT had increased Dedicated/GF program receipts by leveraging projected vehicle rental tax receipts and motor fuel tax receipts and by moving the Whittier Tunnel back to federal receipts after a Federal Highway Administration review.
Pinon said part of the FY26 federal increase reflected the transition of the Whittier Tunnel back to federal receipts after the FHWA suggested prior funding treatment was not eligible; the department said it prevailed in negotiations and re-established federal authority rather than a UGF charge. Pinon also described internal management steps to absorb a 12% reduction to UGF in the current year, including holding administrative positions vacant and reorganizing to protect frontline maintenance services.
Representative McCabe pressed DOT on details of the 'vehicle rental tax receipts' increase and whether it related to new taxes collected from peer-to-peer rental platforms; DOT suggested Department of Revenue follow-up for tax-projection specifics.
What happens next: The committee asked DOT for clearer charts and breakout of the federal-receipt increases and the vehicle-rental revenue sources. DOT agreed to provide clarifying bar charts and specific fund-source breakdowns to the committee.