News

In this week’s RTA weekly member briefing, I have a simple but important action item concerning legislative policy on transportation funding. Please read on.

Elevating Transparency and accelerating mobility: Transportation dollars for transportation purposes

One of RTA’s highest priorities reflected in our 2022 action plan is to advance sustainable, predictable, and sufficient transportation funding for our growing region and state. RTA has favored a simple, access user fee-based approach – in some form – as a viable method to replace the motor fuels tax fairly and effectively. Raising the existing electric vehicle fee and enacting a hybrid vehicle fee are both access user fees that we support immediate legislative action on.

Another revenue and policy option gaining legislative consideration this year is to ensure that all transportation-related sales taxes are dedicated to transportation purposes. Recent fiscal year information from the NC Department of Revenue indicates that more than $500m in state sales taxes on more than $11 billion in automotive related purchases (e.g., auto supply stores, tire retailers, ancillary purchases at filling stations, auto dealers, etc.) went to the state general fund, rather than transportation. RTA strongly supports the retention of transportation taxes for transportation purposes.

Please contact your legislator — or any that you have a good working relationship with — and ask them to request that transportation dollars be preserved for transportation purposes. Specifically, please ask them to request or support a special provision for the budget conference report that directs automotive-related sales taxes go to NCDOT rather than the state general fund.

Please see this week’s RTA blog for more information on this opportunity, and how your outreach can help modernize transportation funding and improve transparency.

I-40 Partnership — 13 great speakers at our 13th annual gathering
The I-40 Regional Partnership is a cooperative initiative of RTA in concert with NCDOT and other partners. Meredith McDiarmid, PE, NCDOT State Transportation Systems Management and Operations Engineer, who serves as the I-40 Regional Partnership executive, kicked off our 13th annual meeting of the Partnership last week on September 10. This year’s gathering, held online, included 13 outstanding speakers on a series of mobility initiatives on I-40, parallel/reliever routes, and related areas. Click here for more information about the partnership and this year’s agenda; you can also directly download the entire presentation deck as well as the video from the meeting. 

The regional business community remains committed to an exceptional mobility future for our market and our state. Thank you for your ongoing support of RTA to make that future an accelerated reality.

Let’s get moving,

Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA Executive Director

Click here for prior RTA Member Briefings and RTA Blogs.