MISHAWAKA — A slowdown in car sales, plus months of high gas prices means less money to keep up the roads. But did you know part of the money you pay for new car fees and when you fill up goes back into local roads?

The state legislature has a formula that decides how much money each county and city gets for roads from gas and car purchases. But right now, because sales are down, Indiana has to find a way to make up $60 million in lost revenue.

Car sales across the country are the lowest they've been in 26 years.

"November was really tough for us," said Gates Mishawaka President Matt Helmkamp.

Fewer cars driving off local lots means fewer people are paying state registration and title fees at the BMV — money used by counties and cities for road maintenance.

Elkhart County Commissioner Mike Yoder says less money means less safe roads.

Mishawaka Mayor Jeff Rea told WSBT it might be difficult to continue to fund things the city needs.

But most of the money for road maintenance comes from gasoline and diesel taxes.

Here's how money in the Motor Vehicle Highway Account is split up:
20 percent pays for State Police
80 percent goes to state, county and city roads.

From that 80 percent, the state gets 53 percent of the money, counties get 32 percent and cities and towns get 15 percent.

But County Commissioner Mike Yoder told WSBT that's not enough.

"The state legislature has to start addressing this issue of local infrastructure funding. It's long overdue," he said.

Taxpayers in Mishawaka are already seeing the effects of fewer dollars this winter.

"Those gas dollars are usually plowed back into the roads," said Mishawaka Mayor Jeff Rea. "When we don't generate the gas revenue we thought, we have to re-think how we do our road maintenance. So instead of curb-to-curb in 24 hours, maybe it's curb-to-curb in 36 hours or so.

This isn't a new problem, by any means. State budget officials say tax revenue from motor vehicle sales dropped 6 percent last fiscal year and has fallen 16 percent in the first quarter of this fiscal year.

Sales tax revenue does NOT go into the same account that pays for road maintenance, but it does have a big impact on money given to local communities.