Under ORS 366.774 “Counties receiving moneys under ORS 366.762 to 366.768 shall report annually to the Legislative Assembly the expenditures of those moneys in each of the following areas:

(a) Administration;
(b) Bicycle paths;
(c) Construction and expansion;
(d) Operations and maintenance;
(e) Other payments;
(f) Payments to other governments; and
(g) Repair and preservation.”

The report uses data from the Local Roads and Streets Questionnaire that each county and city road department submits to ODOT at the end of each year. The report summarizes both recent changes in local transportation funding and long-term trends in revenues and expenditures. The following is a summary of this year’s findings. 

From FY 2019 to FY 2020, the State Highway Fund Apportionment for counties, which makes up 49.4 percent of overall county road department revenues, decreased by $19.5 million from $316.7 million to $296.2 million. This is primarily due to a significant decrease in traffic volumes and DMV transactions toward the end of the fiscal year caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Compared to the FY 2019 report, the FY 2020 report shows a decrease of 1.4 percent for federal revenue, from $53.9 million to $53.1 million, which contributes to a yearly average decline of 0.71 percent and an overall decline of 45.8 percent over the last decade in federal funding—a continuing trend of Oregon counties’ dramatic declines in U.S. Forest Service timber receipts and Secure Rural Schools Act funding.

The FY 2020 report compared to the previous year for counties shows an increase of $29 million for total receipts, from $583.9 million to $612.9, or about 5.0 percent. The increase in total receipts was a product of additional local funding, primarily from bond and note proceeds and development fees that were needed to offset the decline in state funding. As transportation costs continue to rise faster than revenue, counties have prioritized a state of good repair focusing their limited resources to operate and maintain (FY 19-20 increase of $21.4M), administer (FY 19-20 increase of $17.4M), and repair and preserve (FY 19-20 increase of $8,5M) the current system. Many other road department activities saw a minimal to flat increase, but with the addition of HB 2017 (2017) and other local revenue, some counties have also modestly increased needed construction and expansion projects in recent years (FY 19-20 increase of $48.98M).

For more information see the full report, here, or contact Brian Worley, County Road Program Director.