CA Hits Fuel Tax Jackpot: Here's How Much The City Of Napa Gets

NAPA, CA — While California motorists and truckers are busy pumping billions of gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel into their tanks, the state taxman has been stuffing billions of dollars in new fuel tax revenues into the bank — so far nearly $4 billion and counting.

It's been two years since passage of the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, better known as Senate Bill 1, or simply SB1, that tacked an additional 12-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline beginning in November 2017, followed by another 5.6-cents that kicked in this past July 1 — bringing the total state tax on a gallon of gasoline to 47.3 cents and cementing California's position as being the highest gas tax state in the nation.

SB1 also imposed an additional 20-cents-per-gallon tax on diesel fuel in addition to increasing the sales tax on diesel by 1.75 percent and raising annual vehicle registration fees ranging from $25 to $175.

When all the new levies imposed by SB1's 48-pages of legislative prose are tallied up, hundreds of millions are pouring into state coffers every month. It was one of the most contentious California tax issues in the nearly two decades since former Gov. Gray Davis was recalled from office for trying to raise auto registration fees. SB1 survived a bitter repeal attempt and resulted in the recall of state Sen. Josh Newman, a Democrat representing a heavily Republican district in Southern California, for voting in favor of the bill.

Although an attempt to repeal the tax was defeated in June 2018, voters did approve Proposition 69, a state constitutional amendment requiring all SB1 tax revenues to be used solely for transportation related purposes. However, money generated from already existing gas taxes and the increased vehicle registration fee will continue going to the state's general fund.

According to the most recent state statistics, since November 2017, when the new tax became effective about 24.3 million gallons of gasoline and 4.8 billion gallons of diesel have been sold in California. By comparison, during roughly the same period, Californians guzzled a little more than one billion gallons of beer, wine and hard liquor generating less than half-a-billion dollars in tax revenue. Where did all this new fuel tax revenue go?

The lion's share was distributed to Caltrans for a variety of alphabet soup state transportation projects including the Solutions for the Congested Corridors Program (SCCP), the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program (TCEP), two Local Partnership Programs (LPP), the State Highway Operation & Protection Program (SHOPP) and the Active Transportation Program (ATP).

Between January 2018 and last June 30, Caltrans received about $2.8 billion in SB1 gas tax revenues alone. The agency collected millions more from the increased diesel fuel tax and the attendant diesel fuel sales tax increase. Caltrans from the transportation improvement fee imposed through increases in annual vehicle registration fees. So far, increased vehicle registration fees have raised $1.4 billion.

According to the most recent California Transportation Commission reports, through last March 160 projects had been approved under the various Caltrans programs and 129 construction contracts had been awarded. Projects included highway repaving, construction of bicycle lanes, erecting sounds walls and HOV toll lane construction.

But the state doesn't hog all the money. Local governments get their share from the Road Maintenance & Rehabilitation Account, a special fund established by SB1 and administered by the State Controller. Distribution of the money is divided about equally between cities and counties.
Since distributions from this account began in January 2018, through last July 22, some $1.6 billion was doled out based upon population — $803 million to cities and $751 million to counties, not including revenue from the additional gasoline tax increase on July 1.

For example, sparsely-populated Alpine County high in the Sierras received just $541,000, while Los Angeles, the state's most populous county received $140 million. Cities, too, saw a broad range of distributions. Tiny Amador City in California's gold country and the City of Vernon, south of Los Angeles, each received less than $5,000. The remaining 479 municipalities received distributions ranging from several thousand to several million, with the state's four largest cities — Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco —collecting about 17 percent of the total.

City of Napa Gas Tax Revenues, Projects

So far, the city of Napa has received $1,946,890.28 in SB1 revenues.

City officials say they’re using that money to fund pavement preservation, which helps to extend the life of recently paved roadways. Additional neighborhood sidewalk improvements and paving projects are funded by this tax, as well, according to Jaina French, spokeswoman for the city of Napa.

"The City of Napa is working hard to improve the conditions of our streets and sidewalks," French said. "There are a number of revenue sources that contribute to these efforts."

The city's Local Streets Paving Program, which aims to pave 140 miles of city streets in 14 years, has passed the halfway point, she said.

"During these paving efforts, crews also address damaged sidewalks throughout town," French said. "The gas tax revenue contributes $1.475 million per year to these paving and sidewalk improvement programs."

French also pointed out that Measure T, passed by Napa County voters in 2012, went into effect July 1, 2018, when Measure A — the Flood Control Project — expired, so there was no increase in taxes for city residents. Instead, the existing half-cent sales tax shifted from supporting flood control to supporting street maintenance, French said.

Measure T brings in just under $8 million per year, according to the city of Napa. Projects funded by Measure T revenues include rehabilitation of pavement and sidewalks, with a focus on major streets — arterials and collectors such as Trower Avenue and Trancas Street — as well as specific neighborhoods in need of extensive paving and concrete work, French said.

As for the other cities in Napa County, here's the breakdown on how much SB1 funds they've received through July 22, 2019: St. Helena, $147, 543.70; Calistoga, $128,508.23; American Canyon, $505,449.82; and Yountville, $70,982.73.

Patch staffer Bob Porterfield contributed to this story.