The Department of Transportation budget request for fiscal year 2019 may be $100 million less than the amount the department was appropriated for the current fiscal year.

For fiscal year 2018, the department was appropriated $1.2 billion by the Legislature. In a draft presented this week to the commissioners of transportation by department staff, the budget request forecast is $1.1 billion.

The commissioners could vote to approve the draft of the budget proposal at their next meeting later this month.

Federal funds to Mississippi Department of Transportation are expected to remain steady in the coming fiscal year, but income from project specific projects will be reduced and a number of budget line items will be lower.

Bond revenues are estimated to drop from $90 million in the current fiscal year to $20 million in fiscal year 2019 as the I-269 project in North Mississippi comes to a close.

Revenue bridge bonds also will decline from $105 million for fiscal year 2018 to $70 million in fiscal year 2019.

“We anticipate that there will not be any additional bonds issued next year,” said MDOT executive director Melinda McGrath. “The current bonds which were for bridge replacements that were issued a few years back and then the help bond program will be over, and we will be back to our base budget.”

Expenditures in the draft request that are estimated to be lower than the current fiscal year’s appropriation:

• Travel: $2.3 million for fiscal year 2019, down from $2.6 appropriated for fiscal year 2018.
• Capital outlay: $29 million for fiscal year 2019, down from $49 million appropriated for fiscal year 2018.
• Payment of state aid, public transit and debt services: $146 million for fiscal year 2019, down from $150 million appropriated for fiscal year 2018.

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Unless otherwise noted, you can republish most of Mississippi Today’s stories for free under a Creative Commons license. For digital publications:

• Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).
• Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

For print publications:

• You have to credit Mississippi Today. We prefer “Author Name, Mississippi Today” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Mississippi Today” and include our website, mississippitoday.org.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Kayleigh Skinner for more information). To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

If you have any other questions, contact Audience Development Director Lauchlin Fields.

Anticipating lower revenue, MDOT drafts smaller budget for 2019

by Gabriel Austin, Mississippi Today
July 12, 2017

<h1>Anticipating lower revenue, MDOT drafts smaller budget for 2019</h1> <p class="byline">by Gabriel Austin, Mississippi Today <br />July 12, 2017</p> <p>The Department of Transportation budget request for fiscal year 2019 may be $100 million less than the amount the department was appropriated for the current fiscal year.</p> <p>For fiscal year 2018, the department was appropriated $1.2 billion by the Legislature. In a draft presented this week to the commissioners of transportation by department staff, the budget request forecast is $1.1 billion.</p> <p>The commissioners could vote to approve the draft of the budget proposal at their next meeting later this month.</p> <p>Federal funds to Mississippi Department of Transportation are expected to remain steady in the coming fiscal year, but income from project specific projects will be reduced and a number of budget line items will be lower.</p> <p>Bond revenues are estimated to drop from $90 million in the current fiscal year to $20 million in fiscal year 2019 as the I-269 project in North Mississippi comes to a close.</p> <p>Revenue bridge bonds also will decline from $105 million for fiscal year 2018 to $70 million in fiscal year 2019.</p> <p>“We anticipate that there will not be any additional bonds issued next year,” said MDOT executive director Melinda McGrath. “The current bonds which were for bridge replacements that were issued a few years back and then the help bond program will be over, and we will be back to our base budget.”</p> <p>Expenditures in the draft request that are estimated to be lower than the current fiscal year’s appropriation:</p> <ul> <li>Travel: $2.3 million for fiscal year 2019, down from $2.6 appropriated for fiscal year 2018.</li> <li>Capital outlay: $29 million for fiscal year 2019, down from $49 million appropriated for fiscal year 2018.</li> <li>Payment of state aid, public transit and debt services: $146 million for fiscal year 2019, down from $150 million appropriated for fiscal year 2018.</li> </ul> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2017/07/12/anticipating-lower-revenue-mdot-drafts-smaller-budget-for-2019/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/MT_square-thumb.jpg?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://mississippitoday.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=79153&ga=UA-75003810-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p>

1