Arizona State and Local Government Documents Collection

This document is intended to give an overview of the Federal-Aid Program and its impacts on Arizona. There are four major sections in the report: (1) Overview of the Federal-Aid Program; (2) Arizona Federal funding highlights for the fiscal year; (3) Federal-aid Highway Program Characteristics; and (4) Federal-Aid Highway Program descriptions. The first section gives a general overview of how the Federal-Aid Program is financed, the authorization process and a discussion of the apportionment, allocation and obligation authority processes. The second section deals with Arizona Federal funding highlights the for fiscal year. The last two sections are devoted to characteristics of the core programs, including eligibility, limitations, apportionment formulas and descriptions of the funding categories.

Since 1986, the Arizona Department of Transportation has used a comprehensive regression-based econometric model to estimate Transportation Excise Tax revenues for Maricopa County. These revenues, which flow into the Regional Area Road Fund (RARF), are the major funding source for the Maricopa County Freeway Program. This document contains the official forecast of expected values for the Maricopa County Transportation Excise Tax as developed by the Arizona Department of Transportation in cooperation with the Maricopa Association of Governments, Valley Metro and Valley Metro Rail.

The Maricopa County Transportation Excise Tax, often referred to as the “1/2 cent sales tax” is levied upon business activities in Maricopa County, including retail sales, contracting, utilities, rental of real and personal property, restaurant and bar receipts, and other activities. Transportation excise tax revenues are deposited in the Maricopa County Regional Area Road Fund (RARF) which is administered by the Arizona Department of Transportation. These revenues were the principal source of funding for the Regional Freeway System in Maricopa County and were dedicated by statute to the purchase of right-of-way, design and construction of new freeways, widening of existing freeways and highways, improvements to the arterial street system, regional bus service and high capacity transit services such as light rail.

The State of Arizona taxes motor fuels and collects a variety of fees relating to the registration and operation of motor vehicles in the state. These collections include gasoline and use fuel taxes, motor carrier fees, vehicle license taxes, motor vehicle registration fees, and other miscellaneous fees. These revenues are deposited in the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund and are then distributed to the cities, towns and counties of the State and to the State Highway Fund, which is administered by the Department. These taxes and fees represent a source of revenues available to the state for highway related expenses.

The State of Arizona taxes motor fuels and collects fees relating to the registration and operation of motor vehicles. These taxes and fees include gasoline and use fuel taxes, motor carrier fees, motor vehicle registration fees, vehicle license taxes, and other miscellaneous fees. Revenues are deposited in the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund and are then distributed to the cities, towns and counties and to the State Highway Fund. These taxes and fees are a major source of revenue to the state for highway construction, improvements, and other related expenditures.

MGT of America, Inc. was retained to conduct a study for the Arizona Department of Transportation to determine whether there was a compelling interest to justify a disadvantaged business enterprise program for ADOT. MGT found that minority, women and disadvantaged business enterprises were substantially underutilized as prime contractors in construction and construction-related professional services. African American, Hispanic American, and Asian-owned firms were under-utilized as construction subcontractors. The study provides factual predicate evidence for the selective use of project goals for African American, Hispanic American, and Asian American construction subcontractors.

There are two distinct components to the economic development activities described in ADOH’s LIHTC program details. The first component is activity that strengthens the economy. This is the quantifiable activity that is the subject of this report. The second component is community building activity which can be both quantitative and qualitative. This is an area that should be considered in the debate but which is not addressed within this report.