According to a handout distributed by Dallas County Probate Judge Jimmy Nunn to members in attendance at a recent Rotary Club meeting, the Rebuild Alabama Act, which will increase gas taxes statewide by 10-cents over the next two years, will generate $905,623 for Dallas County upon full implementation.

Gas taxes are slated to be increased by 6-cents on Sept. 1, 2019 and will increase by an additional 2-cents in October 2020 and 2021.

The increase in fees for electric and hybrid vehicles, $200 and $100 respectively, will take effect Jan. 1, 2020.

Tax and fee increases will begin being indexed on Oct. 1, 2023 but are limited to only a 1-cent increase or decrease every two years depending on the National Highway Construction Cost Index.

Counties are on track to receive 25 percent of the new revenues generated by the new tax and fees directly and can use those funds for preservation, improvement or maintenance of transportation infrastructure, matching funds for federal road or bridge projects, debt payments for road and bridge projects and joint projects with one or more adjoining counties, cities or a combination thereof.

The new funds cannot be used for salaries, benefits or any other form of compensation for employees or contractor, equipment or vertical construction, such as buildings.

Counties will be required to adopt an annual plan containing a detailed list of projects set to be completed beginning Aug. 31, 2019 and every August thereafter, which must be provided to the county commission at its first meeting each year, beginning in January 2021.

Beginning Oct. 1, 2019, a new county Federal Aid Exchange opportunity will be available to all Alabama counties and will provide counties with $400,000 in place of federal funding. That money can be used on minor collectors and above, or on, bridges on the National Bridge Inventory.

Counties will also be eligible to apply for the $10 million annual Local Government Road and Bridge Grant Program and other funding programs for eligible infrastructure projects.

The state will also offer additional subsidies for engineering positions – counties will be eligible for 70 percent of the top step of the Professional Civil Engineer II, Senior Classification for County Engineers and 50 percent of the Professional Civil Engineer I classification for Assistant County Engineers.