New Missouri roads likely will be funded by people who take on more taxes and a state that bases priorities on who is willing to pay, officials agreed at a meeting Wednesday.
While money won’t be the only factor in deciding what gets paved and what doesn’t, it probably will be huge for projects such as a U.S. 61 Hannibal bypass and a four-lane U.S. 54 from Mexico to Louisiana.
The grim outlook results from stagnant revenues and decreased funding in an era when the state is teetering on the edge of going from construction mode to maintenance only.
The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission held its first-ever meeting in Shelbina, due in part to the recent completion of four-lane U.S. 36 from Hannibal to Macon.
The highway was built with proceeds from a 15-year half-cent sales tax approved by voters in Marion, Macon, Monroe and Shelby counties.
“It’s going to bring a return,” said Shelby County Presiding Commissioner Glenn Eagan, who was on the committee that pushed for passage of the tax. “It’s definitely worth the investment.”
The short-term
Almost everyone involved with road needs says that such “transportation development districts” are the double-edged sword of highway development.
One argument goes that taxes already are collected for road projects and more shouldn’t be necessary. The other side of the coin is that most highways probably won’t get built if residents aren’t willing to put down more green.
“We’re soon going to be out of money,” Farber warned. “When you have really limited resources, you have to try to make those resources go as far as you can.”
Farber said the commission in the future likely will “tend to gravitate” toward projects such as U.S. 36 that had supplemental taxpayer funding.
Audrain County Presiding Commissioner Richard Webber, who urged Wednesday that the U.S. 54 four-lane project from Mexico to Louisiana be moved higher on the priority list, agreed.
“I don’t think there’s any other choice,” Webber said. “We are working toward that goal.”
Commissioner Stephen Miller said the U.S. 36 completion “would not have happened” without passage of the sales tax, and pointed out that other projects in the state also have used similar financing.
“It can only happen through that public support,” Miller said.
“If you want to move further up the line, it certainly has to help,” added Commissioner Kenneth Suelthaus.
The long-term
In 2012, Missouri expects to have $500 million fewer dollars for road construction than it did in the current fiscal year.
Federal stimulus money will be gone and revenue provided by the sale of Amendment 3 bonds will run out. The result will be a return to 1999 funding levels.
The overall Department of Transportation budget, which the commission endorsed, is expected to be down slightly as compared with this year.
“We’re going back in time to where we were before,” said Roberta Broeker, the highway department’s chief financial officer.
State Sen. Wes Shoemyer, D-18, of Clarence, said he isn’t a big fan of transportation development districts, but added the reality is that they’ll be almost mandatory in road projects in the near future.
But Shoemyer also is looking farther and welcoming ideas to solve the long-range funding problem.
Whether they like it or not, many agree Missourians probably will have to raise taxes, as they’ve done in the past when shown specifics about how the money will be used.
“For the people of Missouri, it’s not just about taxes,” Shoemyer said. “It’s about value. It’s about the value of what we get for the dollars we pay.”
Shoemyer points out that “there may not be one solution” and that a series of options could be used to address the issue.
Thad Requet of the Shelbina Chamber of Commerce pointed out that safety is one benefit of four-lane highways that can’t be underestimated or quantified.
Requet told the commission Wednesday that he recalled when he and his brother, Mark, were growing up and how their father would say that U.S. 36 would be a freeway one day.
“It’s so wide open and so much safer now,” Requet said.
Farber agreed that safety would be a big factor in future projects, but reiterated that the state’s ability to fund new construction “virtually goes to zero” without greater help from the public.
Other projects
The commission also:
*Got an update on the Highway 79 re-location near Ashburn. The $3.1 million project got the green light this summer. The next step is right-of-way plans. Construction is to begin next spring and be completed later in 2011. The renovation of two bridges in Lincoln County was put off to pay for the project.
*Heard from Eagan, who thanked the commission for its support of the U.S. 36 four-lane project, which completed the long-envisioned Chicago to Kansas City Expressway.
*Heard Webber tout the benefits of a four-lane U.S. 54 from Mexico to Louisiana and urge funding for preliminary studies along the corridor.
*Was asked to look into upgrades of Highway 15 between Paris and Shelbina.
