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Highway Users Tax Fund (HUTF) Update
By Gary Gleason
Rising energy costs have clearly landed a blow to
cities and counties for all goods and services
including paper products, consumer goods,
transportation, construction materials, and
materials needed for infrastructure maintenance. But
as reported by Tracker Software President Peter
Anzalone in American Cities and Counties Magazine
last fall, the real impact of higher fuel costs is
more far-reaching.
Sticker shock at the gas pump is causing consumers
to change their habits. For starters, more people
say they are using credit cards at the pumps
boosting concerns about burgeoning consumer debt.
People are also spending less on consumer goods
the kinds of things one might buy at Walmart which
effectively reduces sales tax revenue on which
municipalities have come to depend. And not
surprisingly, people are driving less by combining
trips, taking transit, and skipping leisure/elective
travel.
The upside of people cutting back on unnecessary
travel is fairly obvious less traffic, less
pollution, more available parking. But less driving
also means consumers are pumping fewer gallons of
gas, which translates to less money for public works
operations that rely heavily upon the Highway Users
Tax Fund (HUTF).
The HUTF is a state tax on motor fuel and vehicle
licensing fees, which the state collects and
disperses to the cities and counties. HUTF rates
vary from state to state, but are generally around
15-20 cents per gallon of gas. Since HUTF funds are
generally earmarked for roadway maintenance and
improvements, HUTF has become the backbone of
roadway repairs and enhancements for cities,
counties, and state Departments of Transportation.
We just learned that we will have about $30,000
less in HUTF compared to this year, noted
PubWorks customer Linda DeRose with Moffat
County Road Department in Northwest Colorado. It
could have been worse. But as a rural county, and
the second-largest county in the state, every little
bit hurts.
Transportation infrastructure managers at all level
of government are now grappling with how to cut.
Among the tools savvy managers use to help make
these challenging decisions is work management
software like PubWorks to keep track
of people going places and doing things. Based on
this information you can generate management reports
that identify worker productivity levels,
inefficiencies in equipment usage, and investments
made in critical infrastructure assets. In our
experience, this is precisely the kind of
information every manager needs.
Table of Contents Volume
2, Edition 3
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