June 27, 2009

State has lots of money for paving

by Rep. Doug Thomas

Last week, Transportation Commissioner David Cole announced he will cancel 75 percent of all maintenance paving projects because of reduced funding in the highway budget approved earlier by the Legislature.

Wait a minute. MDOT has more money than they've ever had, from $130 million in federal stimulus money, to Garvee Bonds and regular bonds, to gas tax indexing, to the 40 percent increase in auto license fees. There's plenty of money to pave with.

This highway budget includes a new spending line item: $75 million to the TransCap Fund. This fund enables the MDOT to borrow – and spend – hundreds of millions of dollars above what is in the highway budget without voter approval.

We can keep our roads in good condition by using just part of that $75 million. Some legislators tried to make changes to do just that, but their ideas were rejected.
Paving may be down, but MDOT personnel services are up and take an ever-increasing share of the highway budget every year. One MDOT employee gets a $49,000 benefit package on top of his regular salary.

Another problem is spending from the Highway Fund to cover General Fund expenses. The Highway Fund now pays 51 percent of state police costs when an internal study says that, according to the Maine Constitution, it should be 25 percent.

That's about $15 million every year that could go to paving. Another $8 million covering the state ferry system has always been paid by the General Fund until this administration moved it to the Highway Fund.

Added together, this misdirected revenue alone would pave more than 500 miles of highway every year.

Maine people can't afford to pay higher taxes in times like these – and there's no need to. We need to demand the money we are currently spending gets used more wisely.

Above all, let's not kid Maine people that those potholes they're driving around are there because Mainers aren't paying enough taxes.