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posted by Brent Hugh at 5/20/2009 12:37:00 AM
 Today's meeting with the Missouri Transportation Alliance about the effort to address MoDOT's funding crisis, organized by the Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation and hosted by the Mid-American Regional Council, was eye-opening for all involved.If you have the misfortune to live in the greater Kansas City area, you've been bombarded with my email messages trying to explain the importance of this meeting about future MoDOT funding. But everyone I spoke to after the meeting seemed to think that, if anything, I hadn't been forceful enough in explaining the real situation. As the old saying goes, crisis equals opportunity--and there is a major crisis facing MoDOT in the immediate future. That could mean a huge opportunity for those who would like to see Missouri's transportation priorities changed. Of course, it could also mean disaster, as our road and highway system falls apart without even enough funding for routine maintenance! MoDOT funding crisis by 2012 As we learned from Jewell Patek of the Missouri Transportation Alliance and Beth Wright, District Engineer for MoDOT District 4, MoDOT as we know it is very close to coming to a halt. MoDOT's typical budget for projects now is about $1.4 to $1.5 billion per year. Somewhere around $600 million is dedicated to maintaining Missouri's road system--over 32,000 miles of it. By 2012, MoDOT's entire funding level is projected to be at about $400 million. In short, MoDOT's budget would be less than 1/3 what it is today, and below the level needed for routine maintenance. Gas tax on its last legs To make matters worse, the consensus--not just in Missouri but around the country--seems to be that the old standby, the gasoline tax, is on its last legs. The problem is that rising gas prices, pressure for better fuel economy, alternative fuels and power sources (electric, hybrid), and fewer miles driven are all conspiring to make less gasoline sold from year to year. Less gasoline sold means less income from gas taxes. At this point it would be hard to raise the gas tax enough to make up for that lost ground--let alone raise it the additional 15 cents or so per gallon it would take to get the MoDOT budget back on an even keel. (And then how to tackle the problem of the continually declining amount of gasoline sold from that point forward?) To make matters worse, Patek pointed out that only 7% of Missourians support any increase in current gas taxes. The opportunity The opportunity is that--if Missouri is to continue to have a statewide system of roads--new funding sources will need to be found. Almost certainly, some of the funding will come from new, non-automobile-related sources--not gas tax, not sales tax on automobiles. As unpleasant as some of those other potential funding sources are (sales tax? income tax? property tax? mileage tax?), the potential is that with a diversified funding source we could, finally, have a truly diverse transportation system as well--one that includes bicycling, walking, transit, rail, high-speed rail, and who knows what else. What should Missouri's future transportation system look like? One of the things the Missouri Transportation Alliance is asking people to do, is talk to them and give them feedback about the future Missouri transportation system--what do you think it should look like. What should it include? What principles should it follow? Recent Posts in Missouri Bicycle News
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I'm not sure I understand. Why is MODOTs budget going to be cut to pieces by 2012? Surely gas consumption will not drop by that much.
Did they bond themselves out of existence? If so, that would be seen as nothing sort of them creating the crisis themselves.
Sure, we voted for that but how many people REALLY understood anything except, "Our roads will be better right away!!"
Of course, it could be that I dont understand this at all!!!! Actually thats REALLY possible.
Someone help me out...
1. Shifted some money from sales tax of vehicles (which used to be general revenue) to MoDOT.
2. Gave the authority to bond that money--providing about 6 years worth of bonds.
(It also did some technical things like shifting some money out of the Hancock Amendment provisions.)
The money received under #1 MUST be spent under this bonding scheme--no other way.
All the money thus received through the bonds is now spent (not all the projects are completed, but they are decided on, underway, and will be completed quite soon).
What they explained at the meeting is the bonds will take approximately 20 years more to pay off. At that point you can bond again and spend the money again.
I still dont understand why the budget will be cut by 2/3rd's.
Are you saying that they took 20 years worth of auto sales taxes and spent it all in just a couple of years? If that is the case then their budget must have skyrocketed immediately after that passed.
Is the 2012 budget close to what their budge was prior to amendment 3?
Not sure I understand yet, sorry!
Yes, that's it.
"Are you saying that they took 20 years worth of auto sales taxes and spent it all in just a couple of years?"
Yes, since 2005.
"If that is the case then their budget must have skyrocketed immediately after that passed."
Yes, it went up quite a bit as I recall.
"Is the 2012 budget close to what their budge was prior to amendment 3?"
The structural problem--for which (as everyone involved knew at the time) Amendment 3 was just a band-aid solution--is that Missouri has a low gas tax, it is a straight cents-per-gallon charge not indexed to inflation, gas mileage is (by mandate) gradually going up, and miles driven (over the past two years) are going down quite fast.
All that adds up to, the buying power of that 17.6 cents/gallon Missouri gas tax just goes down, down, down each and every year.
Just to adjust for inflation, the gas tax would have to be 26.8 cents/gallon to have the same buying power it did when the 17.6 cents/gallon tax was approved in 1992.
And that doesn't account for the lower amount of gas sold--nor the fact that some road building materials have gone up a lot more than inflation.
This same structural problem is hitting both the federal Highway Trust Fund (which will go broke some time next year) as well as state transportation budgets.
BTW the average state gasoline tax is about 44 cents per gallon. Missouri's is 17.6 cents/gallon.
There is a lot of truth in that old phrase, "You get what you pay for."
(Link is to a chart of state gas taxes around the U.S.)
Web link: http://www.missourigasprices.com/tax_info.aspx
I finally get it now. ha ha
Delays in implementing higher gas taxes, tolls, and refusing to fund efficient-sustainable alternatives will just make this disaster worse. Simply subsidizing highways by other sources of revenue will only make the situation mega-worse until new leadership, legislation like Complete Streets, and law enforcement is managed to be more fair and equitable for all street users.
Solutions will require leadership who gets it, quite a different situation than we have now in place. Thanks again for your time, efforts, energy in making the obvious MO obvious.