A spokesman for the Vermont Agency of Transportation has clarified Congress’ recent decision to rescind nearly $8.5 million in funding from the Vermont Agency of Transportation. There has been some concern among the public that this cut will have an effect on bicycle, pedestrian, trail and enhancement programs within the State of Vermont. However, John Zicconi from VTrans said in a statement that this is not true because the money simply was never budgeted.
Zicconi is the Director Planning, Outreach & Community Affairs for the agency. His statement, issued August 19, 2010, reads:
"The way in which Congress appropriates and routinely rescinds transportation money is very complex, but the pertinent issue here is that the federal government on paper provides the state millions of dollars in transportation money that it never actually gives the Agency of Transportation the authority to spend. And because VTrans never receives permission to spend this money, it is never actually budgeted.
"The $8.5 million that Congress took from Vermont this week is part of a nationwide $2.2 billion rescission in federal transportation funds. But here in Vermont, the money will come from the pool of money which VTrans never received permission to spend, and therefore never budgeted. As a result, no state transportation programs of any kind will be affected. The $8.5 million rescission is nothing more than a financial paper exercise that the state unfortunately must go through with the Federal Highway Administration.
"To put this in perspective, the Agency of Transportation since 2005 theoretically received $915 million from the federal government to fund various programs as a result of the most recent federal transportation authorization bill. However, in that same timeframe Congress only has given Vermont the authority to spend $825 million. In other words, on the books, the feds have given the state $915 million, but only allowed Vermont to access about 90 percent of it. VTrans anticipates this, and never actually budgets the remaining money it knows it will not receive. In fact, the Agency cannot budget this money because it is never given federal permission to obligate these funds to any project.
"The obvious question is what happens to this remaining money? Recently the trend has been that each year Congress, to help fund some other program, “rescinds” most of the transportation money it never actually gave Vermont the ability to use. This is exactly what is happening now with the $8.5 million: it is money VTrans was never given permission to budget.
"This financial exercise has become common in recent years. Since 2007, Congress has rescinded from Vermont a total of $58 million in federal highway funds, which includes the $8.5 million cut announced this week. VTrans, however, has never canceled or delayed any projects as a result of these “cuts” because all of the money came from the pool that Congress never gave the state permission to spend.
"As a result, no programs are currently at risk. The state’s current $595 million transportation budget is sound, and no projects, including those related to bicycle, pedestrian, and trail facilities, as well as enhancement grants, will experience a shortfall as a result of Congress’ recent actions."
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