It’s been an item much in play in the negotiations between the House and Senate over transportation funding, and was addressed in, for example, SB 1188, the “kitchen sink” bill that the Senate defeated last week. So explanations are in order.

Idaho financed its Capitol renovation by directing a share of cigarette taxes to the bond payments; the project was nearly all paid off in fiscal year 2014, when the final $20.8 million payment was made; and fully paid off in fiscal year 2015, when the final $9.7 million payment finished it off.

At that point, the state began directing that share of cigarette tax funds to different projects: $4.7 million a year was tabbed to help fund the state match on its GARVEE bond payments, which borrow against future federal highway allocations to fund big road projects up-front; $5 million was directed to the Idaho Water Resource Board for secondary aquifer planning, management and implementation, often referred to as water recharge; and the remaining amount, which varies each year, was directed to the Idaho Transportation Department’strategic initiatives fund for road work. Those three statutory distributions were approved for five years; they expire in fiscal 2019, their final year, unless the law is changed.

In fiscal year 2015, the amount that went to ITD for road work was just $1.3 million. In fiscal year 2016, with no more Capitol bond payments, the amount that went to ITD was much bigger: $7.4 million. The projected amount for this year, fiscal year 2017, is $3.9 million. For next year, 2018, it’s $5.1 million. And for 2019, the projection is $2.6 million. Though it varies depending on cigarette tax proceeds, it’s roughly a $5 million item that’s in play in the negotiations.

SB 1188 would have moved both the $4.7 million for the state match on GARVEE payments and the leftover amount for ITD, roughly $5 million next year, to a new fund for road congestion mitigation.

In the current negotiations, along with proposals for $300 million more in new GARVEE bonding – which could pay for big projects like redoing congested, deteriorated I-84 in Canyon County – the House reportedly is also backing – with 46 House cosponsors – creating a new “bucket” of state funds into which would flow two revenue streams: A new diversion of 1 percent of state sales tax proceeds after refunds; and the ITD share of the water-GARVEE-cigarette tax money, about $5 million. That would leave the $4.7 million a year for GARVEE match untouched, along with the $5 million for water recharge.

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