CHICAGO — Squeezed for funds to finance transportation projects, Missouri is
Gov. Jay Nixon sent a letter Wednesday to Missouri Transportation and Highways Commission Chairman Stephen Miller asking for an analysis of options for the use of tolls to improve and expand I-70 and free up resources for road and bridge projects around the state.
"A strong transportation system is critical to Missouri's economic competitiveness, but Missouri's transportation funding is approaching a critical juncture," Nixon said in a statement. The report is due by the end of the year.
The state has been struggling to come up with more revenue for transportation. A recent ballot measure — which was opposed by Nixon — failed. Missouri transportation officials blamed a lack of consensus on how to pay for the state's transportation needs for the ballot question that sought a sales tax hike to generate more than $5 billion in new revenue over the next 10 years.
The commission, which oversees the state transportation department and serves as a bond issuer, has exhausted its borrowing capacity based on its current state and federal revenue streams and has shifted its focus to maintenance.
State transportation officials have pressed in recent years for more funding and lawmakers during their 2014 session finally signed off on asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment raising the sales tax. The measure was known as Amendment 7.
The sales tax would have expanded the current revenue sources now used to fund transportation projects. The state's road bonds are secured by the department's primary sources of revenues including state motor fuel taxes, sales taxes on motor vehicles, and motor license fees.
Given declining gas tax receipts, officials have warned the state could soon have trouble covering road maintenance needs and by 2020 would face a hard time matching federal funds.
The commission earlier this year refunded about $900 million of its bonds to save on interest costs restructured some debt, accelerating debt service to open up new borrowing capacity.
Ahead of the sale, all three rating agencies affirmed triple-A ratings for the first lien bonds and Standard & Poor's affirmed the AAA rating it also applies to the second lien bonds. Fitch Ratings affirmed its AA-plus rating on the second lien bonds and Moody's Investors Service affirmed its Aa1 rating.
The commission has a total of $2.8 billion of outstanding debt including all of its state road bonds under various liens and its bonds that leverage federal grants.
