More about Iowa's gas tax increase and funding for Winneshiek County

(Two weeks ago, decorahnews.com posted a news story about the financial impact on Winneshiek County of the ten cents a gallon gas tax that went into effect in March of this year.  We are now re-posting our original story, along with comments in response to e-mails we received):

The ten cent a gallon hike in Iowa's gas tax went into effect in March of this year.  The effects are now beginning to be felt.

Winneshiek county Engineer Lee Bjerke says an additional $898,291 in state funds will be coming to Winneshiek County for the next fiscal year--part of a total of over $6 million in various types of state road funds.

Bjerke is in the midst of planning the county's next five-year road plan.  At this point--although noting is final--the plan calls for work on North Winn Road in the 2016-2017 fiscal year; no major road projects in the 2017-2018 fiscal year; work on County Highway A-46 in the 2018-2019 fiscal year; and work on the Bluffton Road in the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

(That's our original story--and the information in it is accurate.  We received a reader e-mail that questioned our figures: "Total state income from the higher gas tax is projected to be $215 million per year.  Divided by 99 counties, that would be $2,170,000 for Winneshiek County.  That's a long way from $800,000.  What happened?)

The answer is that there are, as we said, "various types of state road funds."  One of those funds is a statewide fund administered by the Iowa Transportation Commission.  Another fund sends money back to counties, using a formula based on population and number of miles of road, among other factors.  That's only logical--Adams County has a total population of 3,907, while Polk County has a population of 444,009--you wouldn't expect the same payments to those two counties (and gas tax receipts would be higher in Polk County).

(The same reader e-mailed, "Two-thirds of the "gas tax increase for road repair" was earmarked for NEW construction in central Iowa, including four new bridges for Des Moines and widening Highway 20)

Again, this reader can certainly have an issue with how these funds are being spent, but those funds are different from the funds allocated to counties through the state's secondary road fund and the Farm to Market fund.  We're discussing apples and oranges here--our news story states, "An additional $898,291 in state funds will be coming to Winneshiek County for the next fiscal year"--and that statement is correct.