The Iowa Department of Transportation says its budget for building roads is staying flat so far this year. Spokesperson Dena Gray-Fisher says D-0-T officials gave the State Transportation Commission an update at the Commission’s meeting today in Bettendorf. The road-use taxes received in the first nine months of the fiscal year are 10-million dollars ahead of last year, but she says the bids on projects and costs are up 10-million, so they’re breaking even. The governor is asking legislators to take 60-million out of road use taxes to balance the budget, but Gray-Fisher says, if it’s approved, the move wouldn’t impact the current year.That plan would take the money out of the next fiscal year. Gray-Fisher says the D-O-T would have to take another look at its five-year plan if the governor and legislature decide to make the move. Legislators thus far are rejecting the governor’s call for shifting the road-use money.
