With less than 30 days to go before Missourians head to the polls to determine the fate of Constitutional Amendment 7, the Missouri Department of Transportation released estimates Friday afternoon of what each city and county would receive in Amendment 7 funds.
If passed by voters, the amendment would create a three-fourths of a cent sales tax with its $5.4 billion revenue being split in three different ways. The larger portion of funding, an estimated $4.8 billion, is directed to statewide transportation issues. Two smaller portions of $270 million, totaling $540 million, are to be directly turned over to cities and counties respectively.
All of the $5.4 billion is required by the proposed amendment to only be used on "transportation system purposes and uses," which means MoDOT, the cities and counties can use the funds to promote every form of transit from large-scale projects like constructing road and bridge projects to smaller-scale projects like repaving sidewalks.
According to a July 7 release to the Associated Press, the state's transportation agency details how cities and counties will receive its share of Amendment 7 funding.
"The allocation to each city will be based on population," the document reads. "The allocation to each county based on county road mileage and assessed rural land valuation."
MoDOT Customer Service Manager Holly Denter said in the release that these are just estimates of what cities could receive based on the most recent census data.
"Should Amendment 7 pass, the exact amounts for cities and counties may change depending on whether newer census data is available," Denter said. "The final calculations will be made by the Missouri Department of Revenue. They are the state agency for collecting and distributing sales tax revenue."
If passed, Amendment 7 funds would not start being collected by the Department of Revenue until January 2015. The cities and counties would receive yearly contributions of funds generated by Amendment 7 throughout the 10-year existence of the tax.
City Allocation
The formula for city allocation is as follows: "Current municipal population divided by Missouri's state population, multiplied by total number of funds available."
According to Friday's release, the following amounts are early projects of what cities throughout the state would receive in the 10-year lifespan of Amendment 7, using the aforementioned formula.
Kansas City: $31.573 million
St. Louis City: $21.9 million
Columbia: $7.45 million
Jefferson City: $2.959 million
Fulton: $878,000
Eldon: $314,000
Osage Beach: $299,000
California: $294,000
Ashland: $255,000
Camdenton: $255,000
Holt's Summit: $223,000
Lake Ozark: $109,000
Wardsville: $104,000
Linn: $100,000
Taos: $60,000
Russellville: $55,000
Iberia: $51,000
New Bloomfield: $46,000
Westphalia: $27,000
St. Elizabeth: $24,000
Centertown: $19,000
Meta: $16,000
Tuscumbia: $14,000
Lohman: $11,000
Matt Morasch Director of the City of Jefferson's Public Works Department said his department would wait and see until after Aug. 5, and that whatever the city decides will be done with planning and coordination from MoDOT.
Columbia's Pubic Works Director was unavailable for comment.
County Allocation
Page three of the 2013 document explains the allocation for counties will be "based on two factors, county road mileage and assessed rural land valuation." To allocate the funds, the department of revenue will use a "ratio of the county's rural road mileage to the total county rural road mileage in Missouri, as determined by the last available report on county road mileage approved by the Missouri Department of Transportation."
The second half of the county funds, an estimated $135 million, will be determined on a "ratio of assessed total county rural land valuation to the total rural land valuation of the state (as determined by the state tax commission annual report)."
In Friday's release from MoDOT, it also clarifies that St. Louis City will get an additional .25 percent of the county allocation funds, with the remaining 4.75 being distributed based on the above formula.
Mid-Missouri counties are estimated to receive a combined estimate of $25,293,000 in funds over the 10-year life span of Amendment 7.
The actual estimates by county are listed below:
Camden County: $6.557 million
Boone County: $3.839 million
Callaway County: $3.644 million
Morgan County: $2.999 million
Cole County: $2.605 million
Miller County: $2.017 million
Moniteau County: $1.271 million
Maries County: $1.037 million
Osage County: $1.324 million
Larry Benz, with the Cole County Public Works Department, said with the unknowns of if the amendment is going to pass and from MoDOT has left the department in limbo.
"We will more than likely draft two budgets, one with the funds included in the budget and one without," Benz said. Benz declined to say exactly how the department would use the funds, if the amendment passes. "To speculate on anything now would be putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. We have been kicking ideas internally, but we will have to wait and see."
Calls to Boone County Public Works Information Specialist Steven Sapp were unreturned.