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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis’ pothole-ridden roads might see a financial boost under an amended road-funding bill that provides options to local leaders.
The sweeping bill was passed by the Indiana House of Representatives on Feb. 20 after several changes.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, who has long pushed for a change over what has been called an “inequitable” road-funding formula, supports the measure. A report from Indianapolis-based engineering firm HNTB Corp. using 2019 data found the city would need $635 million in additional annual funding to maintain its roads.
Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, said at a Feb. 10 committee hearing that his House Bill 1461 was a “plate full” of local government road-funding options that needed refinement. That includes a local funding measure based on lane miles, rather than centerline miles, which Indianapolis Chief of Staff Dan Parker calls “a good sign.”
The Hogsett administration has backed a complete change of the road-funding formula from centerline miles, which only take into account road length, to lane miles, which take into account road width. For example, under the current formula, a one-lane, bidirectional country road receives the same funding per mile as the widest portion of Keystone Avenue.
A proposed retooling of the Community Crossings grant program within the legislation would allocate additional funds, up to $50 million, to Marion County’s secondary streets with the requirement that Indianapolis matches the funds.
It also increases the maximum amount that counties with more than 100,000 residents and all cities can receive in Community Crossings from $1.5 million to $4.5 million annually.
Currently, Indianapolis pays in about 11 cents for every dollar it receives from the grant program, Parker said.
The Community Crossings grant program would be capped at $200 million, with the excess raised going to local communities. In 2025, that surplus—estimated at $157 million in a fiscal analysis—would fund fixes to dangerous at-grade railroad crossings.
Parker said the administration is a “big supporter” of the funding for railroad crossings, especially given that it has lost out on funding for those projects in the past.
Beginning in 2027, Marion County could receive the first $50 million over that $200 million benchmark for maintenance of secondary streets. To receive those funds, Indianapolis is required to add a matching amount that is not currently allocated.
The bill’s fiscal analysis estimates that Indianapolis could receive $50 million from that change in both 2027 and 2028, but doesn’t include data beyond those years. The remainder of the surplus for those two years, anticipated at $55 million in 2027 and $2.5 million in 2028, would be doled out to all Indiana communities based on lane miles.
Parker said it’s unclear now how the city would match the funds. However, the bill also triples the maximum Indianapolis can set its wheel and excise taxes. Currently, counties are capped at $80 for the wheel tax and $50 for the excise surtax. Indianapolis could increase those amounts to $240 and $150, respectively.
Marion County currently doesn’t charge the maximum wheel tax to drivers. The fiscal assessment of the bill says the county could rake in an additional $40.7 million from the county wheel and excise surtax and $27 million for the municipal wheel and excise surtax if both fees were raised to the maximum.
Hogsett has stood in opposition to increasing these rates under the current funding structure. However, Parker indicated that an increase to those fees could be considered in order to fund the match to the additional Community Crossings allocation.
“The mayor has been been clear for many years that he doesn’t want to ask Marion County taxpayers to pay more into this system until … we can see additional funds from the state. Well, this bill does create significant new investments for Indianapolis and Marion County,” Parker said. “So ultimately, how that that match is put together is for us to figure out if the bill passes.”
Indiana senators will now consider the legislation, which has been assigned by leadership to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Transportation.
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Hogsett has always promised not to increase the wheel tax. So, of course, the IN GOP has consistently pushed Hogsett to raise the wheel tax rather than create a more equitable road funding formula. It’s probably time that Indy increases its wheel tax, but this is one of many ways that Statehouse Republicans: 1) Make successful parts of the state pay taxes more than everybody else; and 2) Force city leaders from opposing political parties look bad.
“We’ll only help fix your road funding issue if you break your campaign promises by raising taxes, all while we funnel money out of your city to fund highways to nowhere in rural Indiana.”
Backwards state.
This is good news…but the wheel tax definitely needs to be raised.
no it doesn’t. we have one of the highest gas taxes in the country. there should be plenty of money for roads (state roads). Indianapolis getting 11 cents back on the dollar is wrong.
the bus lines were a terrible idea. not very forward thinking with self driving cars coming soon.
no taxes need to be be raised – efficiency needs to be addressed at all levels.
The best way to reduce the cost it takes to maintain our roads is to implement more road diets around the city. The state should consider tolls on those entering the county on highways as well. We could also join the majority of states and legalize or at least decriminalize the sale of marijuana.
Indianapolis has tried to do road diets, but Aaron Freeman (R) tries to push Indianapolis to maintain the infrastructure that it can’t afford to maintain while the legislature is trying to FURTHER reduce funding for cities. It’s madness and it’s unsustainable. I for one, would be amenable to making I-69 a toll road outside the metro area. We spent almost double the amount that Mitch Daniels said it would cost and currently have no plans for the impending maintenance boondoggle that will come soon enough. The legislature can no longer blame leftward politics (with a straight face) for the issues they’ve been causing for the 20 years they have been in power.
Add it UP ! TRUMP’s Tariffs taxes = a Hidden National Sales Tax on the imported content of products we buy , plus soaring Property taxes ,plus Income taxes (Federal,State.County, Local) plus proposing increasing wheel and excise taxes on vehicles ! We are being taxed into poverty ! Then add soaring insurance premium rates on top of all of that ! The gap between after tax prices and actual value is widening.