§ 39-2509. Matching funds; requirement; exceptions; effect.
Counties and municipal counties get half their annual allocation without local matching, but must match the other half with local funds; if they miss the minimum, they forfeit a dollar for each dollar short.
(1) Each county or municipal county shall be entitled to one-half of the amount allocated to it each year under sections 39-2507 and 39-2508 with no requirement for providing funds locally, but shall be required to match the second one-half on the basis of one dollar for each two dollars it receives with any available funds. (2) Each county or municipal county which, during the preceding fiscal year, failed to provide locally the minimum required by subsection (1) of this section shall forfeit one dollar for each dollar which it fails to so provide locally. Any amounts forfeited under the provisions of this subsection first shall be made available to the incorporated municipalities, as determined by the county board or the council of the municipal county, within the county or municipal county which forfeits the funds, such funds to be matched by the incorporated municipalities in the same manner as would have been required of the county or municipal county had it not forfeited the funds, and if not so used, then shall be allocated among and distributed to the counties and municipal counties that have complied with the requirements of subsection (1) of this section. Such distribution shall be made as provided in sections 39-2507 and 39-2508, except that any county or municipal county having levied its constitutional maximum and not levied sufficient funds to fully match its share of the second half of the highway-user funds allocated to that county or municipal county may apply to the Board of Public Roads Classifications and Standards for exemption from that part of the local matching requirement that it cannot match. The board may grant such exemption if, in its judgment, the county or municipal county has not unnecessarily increased its expenditures for other than road purposes after receiving its allocation for roads in previous years. (3) For the purposes of this section, providing locally shall include, but not be limited to, providing money for road purposes through the following, except that there shall not be duplication in the following in the determination of the total: (a) Property taxes levied by action of county and township boards or the council of the municipal county for construction, improvement, maintenance, and repair of roads, bridges, culverts, and drainage structures, for curbs, for snow removal, for grading of dirt and gravel roads, for traffic signs and signals, and for construction of storm sewers directly related to roads and property taxes levied for the payment of the principal and interest on general obligation bonds for any of the foregoing; (b) Contributions received for road purposes; (c) Local costs in the acquisition of road right-of-way, including incidental expenses directly related to such acquisition; and (d) Inheritance taxes allocated for road purposes. History: Laws 1969, c. 315, § 9, p. 1136; Laws 1971, LB 694, § 1; Laws 1971, LB 844, § 2; Laws 1985, LB 25, § 2; Laws 2001, LB 142, § 44.