Old North News

Though fewer people are on North Carolina's roads because of the statewide stay-at-home order, less traveling is costing the Department of Transportation tens of millions of dollars in fuel tax revenues, according to reports.

“We’re in uncharted territory and waters now,” Bobby Lewis, North Carolina Department of Transportation chief operating officer, said, according to an April 2 News & Observer report. “We anticipate major impacts to our revenue sources, especially in the gas tax and the highway use tax, which is going to make our cash situation even more challenging.”

The department anticipates losing one-third of its budget because of new projections for collecting the gas tax and other revenue sources, according to the publication. If that holds, transportation officials said the revenue loss would amount to approximately $200 million.

The fuel tax helps to financially support state-based infrastructure projects such as road construction or maintenance.

“From a public finance perspective we are looking at very dreary times,” Whitney Afonso, a professor in the School of Government at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, told the News & Observer. 

Not only is less traveling affecting the Department of Transportation, but the sting is being felt at restaurants, retail stores and other companies as residents stay and reduce their expenses, according to the News & Observer. 

“I tell them, ‘Like we’re going to be in a recession,’” Afonso said when advising the Department of Transportation on their budget, according to the publication. “Because we’re going to be in a recession, and it’s not just sales taxes.”

But Lewis said the department doesn't yet know where it will make budget cuts. 

“The only thing we really know right now is that there is agreement with all economists that this is going to be a major economic contraction,” he told the News & Observer.