The proposed $0.18 increase in the Motor Vehicle User Fee has a lot of people asking questions. Here are a few answers:
About the proposed increase:
- Based on constitutional restrictions, the Motor Vehicle User Fee can only be used for purposes related to construction, reconstruction, maintenance, and repair of public highways and bridges.
- State law divides revenue equally among the state’s 88 counties. The proposed increase would provide an additional $1.772 million to each county engineer’s office.
- Ohio cities, villages, counties, and townships would receive about 40 percent of the funding.
- According to Governor DeWine’s proposal, the $0.18 increase is indexed to inflation and slated to become effective July 1, 2019.
About the current budget:
- Since the last motor fuel tax increase in 2005, inflation has reduced the productivity of transportation dollars by nearly half. The dollar of 2003 is now only worth about 58 cents.
- While the cost of maintenance has increased steadily, the revenue has remained relatively flat over the past 15 years because fuel consumption has increased an average of only one-third of one percent per year. This is due partly to increased fuel efficiency and alternative fuel vehicles.
Click here for a breakdown by County of the Estimation of Local Gas Tax Revenues as it pertains to the proposed $0.18 increase. This file only contains information for the OVRDC Region. For a complete statewide searchable database, click here.
For more complete information on ODOT’s budget, click here.
