Commentary; Posted: 9/12/07
State, not property taxes, must fund roads
By Don Heinzman
Local property tax dollars are being used to construct roads and bridges that should be funded by state dollars.
Local cities and counties also are having to sell bonds to loan the proceeds to the Minnesota Department of Transportation to get highway infrastructure built.
Over the last three years, counties have loaned Mn/DOT $33 million to get projects started to ease congestion particularly in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area.
Mn/DOT doesn’t have the funds to either match federal dollars for projects or to pay their share of congested highways and intersections.
That should argue for new sources of revenue for Mn/DOT, at the earliest possible time. Since it appears there will be no special session to set new revenues in motion, the matter will be delayed until next year’s session.
The battle between the Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty over transportation funding is whether new revenues, such as a gas tax, or bonding should be employed to build roads, bridges and highways which are a billion dollars a year behind.
The I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis was caused by multiple factors, one of which was a cost consideration.
While that collapsed bridge and washed out roads and bridges in southeastern Minnesota hold center stage in the funding battle, other transportation issues continue to go unfunded.
Some say that Mn/DOT is out of money to do basic repairs and build new highways and bridges. The agency is even asking successful bidders to pay money up front to get projects started.
Because the Legislature failed to approve a revised bonding bill in the last session, $60 million of the state’s promised share for Northstar Commuter Rail cannot be released. As a result there is a cash flow problem.
To solve it the Hennepin County Rail Authority, the Anoka County Regional Rail Authority and Sherburne County have to sell over $44 million in bonds to build the maintenance facility in Big Lake and two connections to the system.
The bonds will be paid for when the FTA’s full funding grant agreement is in place or the Legislature releases the state’s 2006 appropriation.
Woodbury is paying for interchange improvements for Interstate 494. Anoka County had to loan Mn/DOT $6 million for its share to construct a bridge over Highway 10
Dakota County plans to issue a $4 million, interest-free loan so CR-70 over I-35 in Lakeville can be widened and the interchange can be rebuilt. Chisago County was forced to do likewise in 2006 when the new I-35 interchange was built at CR-17 in Lent Township.
Why should local taxpayers be concerned by this funding shortage at the state level?
Bob Johns, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies, told the Associated Press: “What you have is a lot of transportation being funded by local property taxes, and that might be invisible to a lot of the public.”
Pushing transportation project funding to the local level is a strategy that must be curtailed because local governments can only gain new money by taxing property. A transportation system needs to be funded at the state level with new taxes on a broader base.
Legislators and particularly the governor need to hear that message.
Forest Lake Times
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