State officials push for road funding

Mar 15, 2016 at 10:10 pm by Observer-Review


State officials push for road funding ADVERTISEMENT

State officials push for road funding

ALBANY--A bipartisan group of 130 state legislators were organized by State Senator Tom O'Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) and Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,C,I-Corning) Wednesday, March 9. The group was joined in Albany by county and town highway superintendents and other local leaders from across New York to call for increased state support for local roads, bridges and culverts.
At a news conference in the Capitol, O'Mara, Palmesano and other state legislators, county and town highway superintendents and other local leaders called for increasing state funding for the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program, commonly known as CHIPs, by $250 million to a total of $688.1 million in the 2016-17 state budget. They're also seeking the creation of a new, four-year, $600 million "State Aid to Local Bridge and Culvert Program" to undertake locally designated bridge and culvert improvement projects statewide.
Yates County Highway Superintendent David Hartman was part of the group of superintendents visiting and said the Yates County Highway Department received $1,168,476 last year in CHIP's funding, plus an additional $131,499 of extreme winter recovery funds for a total of $1,299,975. He said the county does not expect to get the extreme winter recovery funding this year since there has been no extreme winter. Hartman noted without an increase in CHIPs funding, the amount Yates receives will be "flat and insufficient again."
"Last year we were able to complete only 6.5 miles of capital rehabilitation paving work," Hartman said. "With 180 miles of county owned highways, that 6.5 miles is equivalent to a 27.7 year life cycle which is absurd to expect of any road even in southern states much less in upstate New York with our freeze/thaw cycles. We should be doing approximately 11-12 miles per year to get to a more reasonable 15-16 year life cycle and that would require at least an additional amount of $700,000 for Yates County alone."
Local highway superintendents representing every region of the state have been in Albany this week as part of their annual "Local Roads Matter" advocacy campaign. For the past three years, O'Mara and Palmesano have organized a bipartisan group of state legislators in the Senate and Assembly, together with county and town highway superintendents and other local leaders from across New York, to call for increased state support for local roads, bridges and culverts through the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPs). During this time, beginning with the 2013-24 state budget, CHIPs funding, including a special category of "Winter Recovery" funding for the past two years, has been increased by approximately $125 million to an overall level of $438.1 million. As a result, counties, cities, towns and villages have seen funding increases.
This year's "Local Roads Matter" campaign is making the case for an even stronger state commitment to local roads, bridges and culverts. With the property tax cap and shrinking local revenues, the lawmakers argue, CHIPs funding is absolutely critical to helping local communities and taxpayers - noting that municipalities own and maintain 87 percent of the roads in the state, own and maintain 52 percent of New York's 18,000 bridges, and that 48 percent of the vehicle miles driven in the state are driven on local roads.
In his 2016-17 executive budget, Cuomo has proposed to maintain this year's total CHIPs funding at last year's level of $438.1 million while eliminating any additional winter recovery allocation. The bipartisan coalition of legislators and local highway leaders are also continuing to stress the need for parity in funding for the five-year MTA Capital Plan and the statewide five-year DOT Capital Plan. They note that under Cuomo's 2016-17 proposed state budget, the MTA Capital Plan is funded at $26 billion while the DOT Capital Plan is slated to receive $20 billion.
In a March 8 letter to the governor, legislative leaders and top Cuomo administration officials, the coalition emphasizes "that equitability, fairness and parity is essential when funding our state's infrastructure. We support and recognize the importance of funding for the five-year MTA Capital Plan as a critical infrastructure investment that is necessary to meet the transportation needs of residents, commuters and visitors for our downstate region. In addition, we believe just as strongly that funding for the five-year DOT Capital Plan is a necessary and critical investment for the residents, motorists and taxpayers of the State of New York, particularly for our upstate region. We are one state, with challenging infrastructure needs statewide, and therefore we believe it is critically important that the five-year capital plans for the MTA and the DOT should reflect true parity and equal funding -- as it was always achieved by previous Governors and legislatures prior to 2010."
A 2013 study conducted by the town highway superintendents association reported that New York needs to invest an additional $1.3 billion per year on local roads and bridges to prevent them from becoming deficient. An earlier report from the state comptroller called 32 percent of New York's local bridges deficient and 40 percent of local roads fair or poor, and getting worse. A national transportation advocacy group, TRIP, has estimated that deteriorating roads cost New York motorists nearly an additional $25 billion annually - nearly $2,300 for the average driver in some areas -- in lost time, fuel costs, vehicle repairs and other expenses.
According to the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways (NYSAOTSOH) and the State County Highway Superintendents Association (NYSCHSA), the fees and taxes paid by drivers approach $5 billion annually yet only about $2 billion of these revenues are dedicated to maintaining the state's transportation infrastructure. They argue that $3 billion that the state annually collects in motorist fees and taxes, which should be kept in the state's Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund, are being diverted to other, non-transportation related purposes.

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