How much will cities in the Des Moines metro area receive in road funding if a 10 cent increase to the fuel tax were enacted?

The Iowa Department of Transportation responded to that question on Wednesday, February 3, releasing estimates for cities in Iowa. Staff at the MPO compiled that information into the chart below, summarizing member cities’ current maintenance budgets, projected funding needs pulled from the Pavement Quality Forecasting Report, the amount of funding needed, and the amount that would be raised with a 10 cent increase to the fuel tax.

The estimated numbers show that the 10 cent increase in the gas tax would not be enough by itself for several cities to cover the additional funding needs to maintain current road conditions at status quo.

In releasing the estimate, the DOT noted that it was not tied to a specific legislative proposal and offered the assumptions it used to make the estimate:

• Across-the-board ten cent increase would be implemented at once, no phase in. ·
• The estimate does not include a variable tax rate for gasoline and gasohol; therefore, all gasoline and ethanol blended gallons were assumed to be taxed at a rate of 30 cents per gallon.
•  Also, diesel fuel was calculated at 32.5 cents per gallon