Declining Value of State Gas Tax Highlights MoDOT’s Spending Binge Fallout

It's been a few months since MoDOT announced that it has been forced to layoff and curtail a large portion of its operations. Whereas in recent years MoDOT had been living large spending $900 million to $1.2 billion a year, MoDOT's budget for the foreseeable future is only about $600 million a year. How did this happen?

An article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had a very good summary explaining that MoDOT's funding woes are largely of its own doing.

Back in 2004, MoDOT's "concrete lobby" helped persuade voters to take what now is about $150 million a year out of general revenue and put it in the road fund. That's one reason that money has been tight for other programs.

MoDOT used the money to float a construction bond issue. The work is mostly complete, so now it's time to service the debt. In addition, MoDOT used anticipated federal revenue to float special bonds for a portion of the half-billion dollar reconstruction of 10 miles of Interstate 64/U.S. Highway 40 in St. Louis.