How Road Work is Funded
County Road Budget Chart |
Figure Your Gasoline Taxes
The good thing about paying for road work in Michigan is that it is done through a user
fee. You only pay for roads if you use them.
How do you pay for them? Each time you fill up with gas, 19¢ per gallon goes into
the Michigan Transportation Fund [MTF], which funds road improvements. This money
is used primarily for the daily maintenance and upkeep of Michigan's 118,000 miles
of public roads, as well as some constructions.
Another 18.4¢ in federal gas tax is charged at the
pump and sent to Washinton, where Congress then allocates it to the various states.
Wayne County's share of that funding [about $14 million per year] is used as 80%
funding for most of its major road improvement projects.
The other primary source of road funding is through vehicle registration fees. Despite
the 1996 gas tax increase of four cents per gallon, Michigan motorists pay less
in road user fees than their counterparts in two-thirds of the other 49 states.
While you can't say exactly where your property
taxes go, the Michigan Transportation Fund generated by the gas tax and vehicle
registration fees is constitutionally mandated to be spent on maintaining, building
or fixing roads. The money is then distributed between State, County and City road
agencies based on an established formula. It is the responsibility of each agency
to make the best use of the money it receives.
Department Organizations
Kenneth Kucel
Director