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Road Fund Transfers.Supnort OM&P <br />The road fund transfer payment is a significant <br />source of annual revenue to the cities' road funds. <br />While the specific amounf varies from cityto city, <br />as much as a third of a city's road fund resources <br />inay come from County transfer payments, with the <br />balance coming primarily from gas taxes. In almost <br />all cases, this money is used for operations, <br />maintenance and preservation (OM&P) programs, <br />not capital projects. <br />Operations and maintenance activities such as <br />striping, sweeping, pothole patching, signal <br />maintenance, street lighting; and tree trimming keep <br />streets safe and in reasonable working order. <br />Preservation and rehabilitation activities such as <br />slurry seals and overlays prevent premature failure <br />of streets and allow them to function for their entire <br />design life. <br />Eugene, Springfield, and the other cities face <br />shortfalls in their.street maintenance operating <br />budgets. Springfield, for example, is projecting an <br />annual decrease of 7% in FY02 in its street <br />operations budget unless additional operating <br />revenues can be found. Eugene is looking at a <br />similar or even more dramatic decrease in its street <br />maintenance program budget starting in FY03 <br />unless additional operating funds are found. <br />Road Fund Transfers Are a Good Investment <br />If OM&P needs are not met, streets deteriorate and <br />eventually require reconstruction, which typically. <br />can be four to five times more expensive than timely <br />overlays. This has occurred in the case of numerous <br />streets in Eugene and other cities. As an indication <br />of the amount of resource required to keep streets in. <br />good operation condition, Eugene estimates it has an <br />estimated $3.2 million unfunded annual need for <br />rehabilitation activities. <br />Reconstruction projects are. required when streets . <br />have deteriorated to the point where the road bed <br />needs to be rebuilt. _ As an indication of the <br />tremendous need for funding in this area, the City of <br />Eugene estimates there currently is a backlog of $53 <br />million in unfunded rehabilitation and <br />reconstruction projects. Springfield's backlog is $7 <br />million. <br />Prepared by Eugene and Sprin~eld Public Works <br />December 2000 <br />