Transportation projects roll on despite cuts

If there is one area of state government relatively safe from the current round of state budget blood-letting, it would be the state's concrete capillaries of farm-to-market road, highway and interstate.

The Iowa Department of Transportation's funds come largely from primary road use taxes and fuel taxes as well as federal highway trust funds -- not the state's general fund.

"Governor Chet Culver's recent 10 percent across-the-board state budget cut did not dramatically impact our operating budget," says Lee Wilkinson, operations and finance division director at the DOT.

The department receives about $480 million a year to maintain and construct roads.

Only the DOT commercial airports budget is slashed by the governor's 10 percent cuts. The $1.5 million program for this year has been cut the necessary $150,000, Wilkinson says. Regional airports including Sioux City and Fort Dodge are affected and may need to reconsider projects for 2010 that had already been funded.

Public fears are being expressed that the cut could doom long-awaited projects, like the completion of a four-lane Highway 20 across northwest Iowa and an improved Highway 86 North running through the Iowa Great Lakes to the Minnesota border.

Highway 20 has been proposed, promised and delayed since the 1960s, Highway 86 since the '70s.

COUNTY ENGINEERS

On paper, it would appear that area road projects would escape the knife, but local county engineers are skeptical.

"Our concern is the economic downtown," says Buena Vista County Engineer Jon Ites. He notes that much of the revenue received for transportation projects comes from road use tax funds drawn from car registrations and gas tax fees. If people are more cautious buying vehicles, and cut down their driving to save their household budgets, the money pipeline to pay for future projects may grow narrower.

Taxes in those areas haven't been increased in years, and inflation has eaten into what can be done with the money. Load limits have been placed on 40 aging bridges in Buena Vista County, and at least half of those need to be replaced soon, with no money on hand for the work, Ites says. "We can only afford to do two a year, and that doesn't get you there very quickly."

Dickinson County Engineer Dan Eckert says he believes the road use tax fund might have seen somewhat of a rebound with the 'Cash for Clunkers' program after lagging in previous months -- more people buying newer cars meant spending more on registration, he says. However, there remain some long-term concerns especially now during a recession. "People are smarter with what they drive, when they drive and maybe not driving as far as they normally would," he says, resulting in less gas tax revenue.

Eckert says he personally prefers the idea of raising gas taxes rather than registration fees because he says people have a choice of where to drive, how much to drive or the type of car they drive. They don't have as much choice on registration fees, he says. "Everybody has to have a car," he says.

Clay County Engineer Scott Rinehart says Governor Culver's 10 percent across-the-board cut will have a more dramatic impact than will people's car buying and driving habits. While the cuts haven't trickled down to his department yet, he fears for future road needs in the Spencer region, especially under high concrete costs. "We're surviving well but sooner or later we're going to have to catch up on paving," he says. He says he figures they are completing paving projects at about a one third of the rate they did six or seven years ago. He feels gas taxes may have to be raised.

"We're always fighting the inflation versus the income we're receiving," he says.

ROADS CRUCIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT

Kathy Evert with the Iowa Lakes Corridor says funding for road and highway projects and maintaining quality roads is crucial to economic development for northwest Iowa. Much of the organization's primary support is focused on rallying for projects including Highway 20, Highway 59 and Highway 9. "All three of these roads are primary connectors," says Evert. "We'll be watching it closely and doing our best to keep the projects at the top of the funding list."

Evert says it will probably take federal dollars to complete four lanes on Highway 20 so the Corridor will be rallying for the project in March in Washington.

They are not alone. The US 20 Corridor Association, with local communities as members, discussed the state cuts at a recent gathering in Holstein. The disparity of revenue vs. needs for highway work will be a concern even if DOT funds are not disturbed, says Shirley Phillips, association president.

The project will depend in part on the funding of the TIME 21 program enacted by the Legislature to give the DOT resources to continue development even as it is faced with growing maintenance needs on an aging transportation infrastructure, she explained.

Current plans call for Highway 20 to be completed as a four-lane to Highway 71 at Early, in 2013.

JOB LOSSES REDUCED

A limited number of area transportation workers will be immediately impacted by the governor's cut.

There are three non-contract employees in Buena Vista County, three in Clay and four in Dickinson not represented by unions, such as road engineers, who will be subject to mandatory seven-day furloughs from now until the end of the fiscal year in June.

Dena Gray-Fisher, IDOT spokesperson, says savings from the furloughs would be returned to the Primary Road Fund and Road Use Tax Funds.

Contract employees, represented by unions, recently voted to make concessions as well, in negotiations between the state and the unions to try to save over 500 jobs.

This could affect eight contract employees in Buena Vista County, 13 contract employees in Clay County and nine contract employees in Dickinson County who would be required to take five unpaid days and potentially sacrifice some retirement benefits.

Initially, about 20 state troopers were expected to lose their jobs in cuts as a response to Governor Culver's action. Results of an AFSCME/Iowa Council 61 union vote released November 30 are expected to save most of the jobs, with current projections calling for only seven job losses between Public Safety and Public Health.

Union President Danny Homan stresses that AFSCME will give no more. "State workers have exhausted their options for what they can do to balance the state's budget for the people of Iowa."

Executive branch workers would be required to take five furlough days -- including front line corrections officers, parole and probation officers and others who provide support for the public safety network in Iowa.

"Our hands are kind of tied right now, we are just hoping for the best," says Courtney Greene, Public Information Bureau Chief for the Iowa State Patrol. She said that public safety leaders are grateful to the governor for recognizing the importance of road safety and working to save the jobs.

The Department of Public Safety is comprised of four sworn divisions, which serve the state. District Six serves the counties of Buena Vista, Clay and Dickinson with 11 officers assigned to this office. In addition the Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Division of Criminal Investigation and State Fire Marshal Division collectively have seven officers assigned to the area that covers those three counties. DPS has numerous other employees in a support capacity in central Iowa who provide support to officers in those counties. The original preliminary department plan included the possibility of there being fewer funds available for agents to use when conducting undercover drug investigations, to assist local officers in investigations, and for fire inspections and training of firefighters.

"I'm very pleased that last week, members of the State Police Officers Council (SPOC) and today the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees have voted to take mandatory unpaid days, thus preserving the jobs of their fellow peace officers and co-workers," says Commissioner Eugene T. Meyer. "This has been a difficult time for the Department of Public Safety. There have been a number of tough decisions made by Governor Culver, the unions and state agencies."

A QUICK FIX WARNING

The fact that the DOT budget does not depend on the state's general fund is creating some inequities, according to State Representative Gary Worthan, a Storm Lake Republican.

"The highway patrol is looking at laying off troopers because they are funded through the general fund, while the DOT is looking at hiring 14 new regulation officers. This is a personal opinion, but I think the highway patrol does a heck of a lot more good to the public than DOT officers do."

If the DOT cuts back on projects, Worthan said, "everyone will know it's hogwash."

"They can't use that excuse for Highway 20 or anything else. In the first stimulus program, $350 million extra dollars went to DOT, and it's gotten larger since then. Every nickel, they still have."

However, one big concern is that the roads budget could be raided by legislators looking for a quick fix, Worthan warns. "Some time ago, for example, the state patrol was switched to come out of road use funds. That has since been changed, but it's not impossible that something like that could be tried again."

He suggests that Highways 7 and 71 should be quickly upgraded as top northwest Iowa priorities. "Just about all the ethanol plants are within 30 miles of (Highway 7)... we are moving about 1,300 loads of corn a day on old two-lane road in northwest Iowa and we have to maintain them. And on 71, we really need to get the Highway 71 bypass done at Spencer and get something done up at the lakes. It can be terrible to try to get through there. We can't neglect maintaining our two-lanes, either; we depend on them to get farm products where they need to be."

THE STATE OF LOCAL ROADS

Meanwhile, local roads leaders differ on the status of the area's infrastructure.

Engineer Rinehart says Clay County roads went into the recession in "decent" shape. The county did not receive funds from the stimulus package for proposed bridge projects, and sought none for paving -- the cost of paving was too high to justify at the time.

Engineer Eckert said Dickinson County roads and bridges are also in fairly good repair. The county received about $1.8 million from the economic stimulus program that helped with a four-mile concrete resurfacing project on M27 and a three-mile asphalt resurfacing project on three miles of N22 that was a joint partnership between Dickinson and Emmet Counties.

Buena Vista County Engineer Ites said keeping up with maintenance has been an uphill battle in his area, but he is thankful for federal dollars such as stimulus funding this year for a concrete overlay project on East Milwaukee at Storm Lake. "We do the best we can to get extra dollars looking at grants and special programs that way," he says, but feels that in the long term, some form of tax increase to maintain safe roads and bridges will be necessary.

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