Russell will ask legislators when the 2025 General Assembly session starts Wednesday to cap the Special Transportation Fund’s emergency reserve so that once that safety net account tops 18% of the STF — nearly $412 million based on current spending — the state would have to put that money to work, paying down long-term debt. The plan centers on the transportation fund, which represents about 9% of this fiscal year’s $26 billion overall state budget. Besides covering operating expenses for transit programs and for the Departments of Transportation and Motor Vehicles, the fund also pays the debt service — principal and interest — on the hundreds of millions of dollars Connecticut borrows annually for highway, bridge and rail construction projects. The STF gets most of its funding from sales and fuel tax receipts, and the former has grown considerably in recent years, driven in part by inflation.
Treasurer: CT saves big by not stashing transportation funds