(Raleigh, N.C.) – State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, announced today that as of Dec. 31, 2022, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has replenished the state’s Highway Trust Fund (HTF) with $1.1 billion. The HTF was created by the North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) in 1989 to provide revenue sources for specific highway projects.
This represents a marked turnaround from previous overspending. In Fiscal Year 2019, the DOT spent $6.8 billion against a budget of $5 billion for that year. Of the $1.8 billion in overspending, DOT depleted $1.1 billion in “short term” loans from the HTF to the Highway Fund (HF) between May 2018 and April 2019. Prior to that, the HTF had not been touched for over 14 years. The loans were used to “…address demands on Highway Fund working capital related to disaster recovery efforts, and the acceleration of highway construction projects…”
In 2020, detailed repayment procedures were established under a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) among the Department of State Treasurer, the Department of Transportation and the Office of State Budget and Management. When the MOA was signed, the loans were expected to be repaid within four years. However, the loans were repaid two years early on Dec. 28, 2022.
“The early repayment of the loans to the Highway Trust Fund is a tribute to the leadership of Secretary Boyette and the professionalism of his staff,” Treasurer Folwell said. “The turnaround from the previous administration is quite welcome. They listened and collaborated with the staff here at DST and have made remarkable progress.”
Treasurer Folwell added that DST now has a roadmap to follow when using money from the HTF for needed highway projects saying that road users, vendors and taxpayers deserve a financially stable DOT.”
The N.C. Department of State Treasurer’s State and Local Government Finance Division handles the sale and delivery of most state and local debt and monitors the repayment of state and local government debt. More information can be found at nctreasurer.com.
