DOT Says Layoffs and Closures at Licensing Stations Will Happen if House GOP Budget Adopted

http://www.kbur.com/2016/04/21/dot-says-layoffs-and-closures-at-licensing-stations-will-happen-if-house-gop-budget-adopted/


Iowa D-O-T officials say without the extra money, up to 400 employees will be laid off, plus some of the state’s Driver’s License stations and DOT maintenance garages will have to be closed.


Republicans in the Iowa House say the Iowa DOT got a significant budget boost when the state gas tax went up a dime-a-gallon last year — and the agency should reallocate money within its budget to pay for negotiated employee pay raises.


Lee Wilkinson, director of the DOT’s operations and finance division says the D-O-T cannot use any of the additional gas tax revenue to cover salaries, because of legislative action in 2015 that barred the practice. “The increase that we received from the gas tax, none of that money goes towards our budget,” Wilkinson says. “All of that money is going into roads projects,” says Wilkinson.