Transportation Funding: RI Doing It Right
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
No one needs to be told Rhode Island’s bridges and roads need help. It may already be on the way with not just one, but two good proposals that supporters hope they can “harmonize” to the maximum benefit of the state.
Governor Lincoln Chafee has made a proposal aimed at eliminating the state Department of Transportation’s debt service. It would redirect one-fifth of the $60 from each biennial auto registration fee to the Intermodal Surface Transportation Fund to help repair and maintain RI’s infrastructure.
That is for the first year of Chafee’s plan. The amount would increase in approximately $12 increments each year until after five years, the whole fee would go into the ISTF to fund transport projects. Currently, it goes straight into the murk of the general fund.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBy Chafee’s estimation, after five years that growing stream would be enough to eliminate the need for any future transportation bonds. At the moment, RIDOT goes to the voters every two years for a bond of $80 million dollars to provide the 20 percent match needed to accept federal highway dollars.
Voters Support Transportation Bonds
The voters have been good in complying with this biennial request each time it comes before them. (The approved 2010 bond was for $84.7 million, but that included $4.7 million in direct funds to the RI Public Transportation Authority, which has traditionally only put bonds before the voters for fleet replacement.)
But the debt service that comes with that approach can be overwhelming.
Transportation projects in the state account for $43.6 million of debt service that is desperately needed elsewhere to repair and maintain the state’s crumbling roads and bridges. If Chafee’s five-year proposal works – and the local experts think it would – that would mean the dollars go towards brick and mortar, not a bureaucratic financial maze in Washington, D.C.
Seeking One Voice
Now comes the need for harmony.
More forward steps are being taken in the General Assembly. There are identical bills being introduced in the House and Senate, called the Transportation investment and Debt Reduction Act of 2011. The mirror bills draw from a recommendation by the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Transportation: raise the auto registration fee by $20 per year ($40 on the biennial renewal, so $100 per registration every two years versus Chafee’s $60). That amount could get chancy in the maw of the General Assembly and fear of any new financial impositions on the public, but that will inevitably be decided by the legislature.
By the Blue Ribbon panel’s estimation, that would raise approximately $20 million per year.
The bill is being sponsored by Sen. Louis DiPalma in the Senate, and championed by Reps. Arthur Handy, Jay O’Grady and Teresa Tanzi in the lower chamber. The House Finance Committee has already held a hearing on the bill, while the Senate Finance Committee has it on its April 7 docket.
The difference here with the governor's proposal is that the funds would be spread out to RIDOT (50 percent) for maintenance and repair of existing roads and bridges; RIPTA (35 percent) for capital expenditures or operations and maintenance or both; and cities and towns (15 percent) for much needed assistance in maintenance and repair of local streets.
The Coalition for Transportation Choices, a wide-ranging transit advocacy group of more than 45 local non-profits, is backing the Transportation Investment and Debt Reduction Act. But the group's leadership says they are eager, in their oft-repeated phrase, to “harmonize” with Governor Chafee’s plan.
The CTC does see two flaws in the Chafee proposal. Jerry Elmer of the Conservation Law Foundation, head of the CTC’s policy and advocacy committee, would like to see specific language that targets debt reduction in the Chafee proposal. The group would also like to share the wealth across RIPTA and the municipalities, not just have all the funds go to RIDOT.
“It’s certainly good to recognize that bonding is not sustainable,” said Elmer. “But at the moment, there is no requirement for targeting the money to bonding.”
But Elmer and the CTC remain optimistic that the state has two good proposals in play. “There are multiple ways to merge them," said Elmer. "Better to have a combined bill. You get the best of both worlds.”
Gas Tax Backwards
Amid the talk of new proposals, most everyone agrees that the traditional gas tax is in trouble as a funding source. That is especially true for RIPTA, where it is a prime source of revenue.
There is currently a 32.5 cents tax per gallon. Of that, 21.75 cents goes to RIDOT; 9.75 cents to RIPTA; and one cent per gallon to the Department of Elderly Affairs.
But it is nearly backwards thinking. And while doubtless well-intentioned when introduced, it has what Elmer called “a perverse and unintended result.”
As gas prices soar, the inclination is to drive less or more efficiently. Less gas needed, less gas sold.
Groups such as the CTC encourage alternative types of transportation – trains, bikes, walking, and especially buses. And as buses are convenient - and as has proven in the past – you get more demand for increased service at a time when the funding going to RIPTA from the gas tax is going downhill.
Greater demand, fewer resources. An equation that does not work well almost anywhere.
Forum in Providence Wednesday
Transportation issues such as auto registration fees, debt reduction and a wrong-end-round gas tax will be the focus of a major transportation forum, "A Wake-up Call to Action: Rhode Island's Transportation Funding Crisis," to be held this Wednesday, April 6 at the Providence Convention Center from 1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M.
The event is sponsored by RIDOT, CTC and the URI Transportation Center, with the public support of Governor Chafee, Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, and House Speaker Gordon Fox. The involvement of the State House leadership could be why CTC co-chair John Flaherty of Grow Smart RI told GoLocalProv he was looking at a possible sellout crowd of nearly 200 as of Monday.
Rhode Island achieved national recognition when a recent Smart Growth America report ranked it in a tie for first place with six other states for using 100 percent of its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to repair and maintain existing roads and bridges, not build new ones, which have less economic impact than preserving already built infrastructure. A good reason for the state to maximize having funds for operations, not debt service.
A panel of national and local experts will discuss how Rhode Island can best achieve and sustain a 21st century transportation system, including former Maryland governor Parris Glendenning, and former U.S. DOT CFO Jack Basso. Local leaders include John Simmons, executive director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, and Sheila Dormody, co-chair of the CTC. Scott Wolf, executive director of Grow Smart Rhode Island will moderate the panel.
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