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Idaho legislators close session with funding
bill for roads |
"The fact is we are driving on the
infrastructure that was designed and
built for our grandparents." |
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April 14, 2015 |
"Like other states, Idaho faces a crisis – the
result of long-term underinvestment in our aging
roads and bridges. The fact is we are driving on
the infrastructure that was designed and built
for our grandparents." So says the AAA Better
Roads, Fair Funding project.
Much has been made in recent years of the
gradual and ongoing deterioration of Idaho roads
and bridges, due to maintenance funding falling
behind what is required to even maintain roads
and bridges at their design standards.
Locally, failing roadways can be seen right here
in Boundary COunty. Take a drive up or down
Bonners Ferry's South Hill, for example, and see
if you can complete that short drive without
hitting any cracks, patches, rough spots, or pot
holes in the pavement surface.
According to Idaho Governor Butch Otter's Task
Force on transportation funding, State and local
agencies would have to do preservation and
restoration work on 500 lane miles of paved
roads each year beyond what is currently
programmed just to keep Idaho's roads from aging
beyond their design life.
Along those same lines, the Task Force found
that 250,000 square feet of bridge deck
preservation and restoration work would need to
be done each year beyond current maintenance
levels to keep bridges from aging beyond their
design life.
The Task Force projected Idaho would require an
average of $262 million each year in additional
funding to do this required road work. (see
Governor’s Task Force On Modernizing
Transportation Funding In Idaho, Final Report,
issued January 2011).
As the Idaho state legislature convened in
January of this year, how lawmakers would deal
with this issue became a widely anticipated
issue.
The bottom line is, at nearly 1:30 a.m. on the
last day of the legislative session, lawmakers
approved a transportation bill that would raise
$94.1 million toward Idaho roads and bridges.
That falls far short of the $262 million needed
just to keep Idaho roads and bridges up to
standards.
The legislative wrangling in the legislature
just to come up with the $94.1 million was an
arduous process. At the end of March, the Idaho
House of Representatives approved and sent to
the Idaho Senate a bill that aimed to make major
reforms in taxing and funding in the state. The
House bill proposed to add 7 cents per gallon to
the state's already existing gasoline tax to
provide funding for Idaho road and bridge
maintenance. Additional provisions of the House
bill would lower some income tax rates, and
eliminate sales tax on groceries and eliminate
also the grocery tax credit.
The Senate responded to the House bill by
rejecting it, and put together their own
legislation that would raise an estimated $127
million for roads funding by raising vehicle
registration fees, creating a user fee for
electric and hybrid vehicles, and gradually
raising the gasoline tax up to 10 cents per
gallon. The Senate's offering was then rejected
by the House.
A conference committee between the two
legislative bodies, after two days of
negotiations, came up with compromise
legislation that was eventually passed by both
the House and the Senate. The compromise starts
with raising the gasoline tax by 7 cents per
gallon (bringing the gasoline tax total to 32
cents per gallon). This provision of the bill
would raise $63.2 million. The bill would also
raise vehicle registration fees, including an
increase of $25 for trucks, a $21 increase for
most other vehicles, and increases fees for
motorcycles, hybrid, and electric vehicles. The
bill also allocates some general funds toward
roads projects for the next two years.
That all adds up to the total funding of $94.1
million for Idaho's roads and bridges, only
about one third of what the Task Force estimated
would be needed each year just to keep Idaho's
roads and bridges up to standards.
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