Canadian County Commissioners have something to celebrate, as highway revenues have remained strong since April.
District 2 Commissioner David Anderson said he was pleased to see “unrestricted highway revenues” remaining above the $400,000 mark. Obtained through taxes on gross production, gas and diesel sales, as well as motor vehicles tags, UHRs are necessary for all three Commissioners to operate their shops.
“Those funds go directly into our roads, bridges and other projects,” Anderson said. “Basically everything to do with the shop — except payroll for the receiving agent and foreman — is done out of the unrestricted funds.”
According to a revenue sheet compiled by County Clerk Shelley Dickerson, since July 2007, county UHRs have fluctuated from a low of $285,252 in December 2008 to a high of $571,520 in October 2008. With the exception of January 2009 when $483,428 was collected, the county's totals during the rest of that year were far lower than those historically seen, Anderson said.
Overall, the county's 2009 total was $4.34 million, compared with $5.5 million for 2008. The million-dollar drop meant bad news for officials trying to stretch every dollar to keep roads maintained, Anderson said.
Canadian County's three districts do not get an equal slice of the UHR pie, Anderson said. Of the three, his district — District 2 — receives the smallest share, 32 percent of revenues collected. District 3 gets the largest bite 34 percent percent and District 1 receives 34 percent of collected funds. In August, that meant of $472,868 coming into the county, District 1 received about $160,444 and District 2 received $151,034, while District 3 was paid $161,390.
According to the Oklahoma Tax Commission website, motor vehicle, boat and motor revenue is divvied up as follows:
*School districts — 36.20 percent;
*General revenue fund — 29.84 percent;
*County improvement for roads and bridges — 15 percent;
*County highway maintenance and construction fund — 7.24 percent;
*Emergency county road fund for county fund — 3.62 percent;
*Various cities and incorporated towns — $3.10 percent;
*County road fund for county fund — 2.59 percent;
*Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement Fund — 2.34 percent;
*Counties for the support of county government — 0.83 percent;
*State transportation fund — 0.31 percent; and
*Wildlife conservation fund — 0.03 percent.
Questions directed to the tax commission for clarification about how these revenues are apportioned were not answered as of presstime.