LANSING – Though he would not say how much of the funds would be in the budget, Transportation Director Kirk Steudle said the $1.2 billion in new transportation funds Governor Rick Snyder requested in his State of the State Address was the minimum needed.
The additional funds work out to $120 per vehicle on the road now, but Steudle said such an increase in vehicle registration fees, once a proposal from the administration, was not necessarily the source for the funds. Details were also sparse Wednesday on the plans for redistributing those funds.
“There are a number of ways that can come together,” Steudle said. “It’s going to be a legislative process.”
But he said the upcoming budget “will include the fact that we need to do this.”
“We need to do this now and not put this off,” Steudle said. “We’re not paying for what we’re using.”
He said he could find roads in any legislative district in the state that were in poor condition and needed rebuilding.
Steudle said the hearings conducted last legislative session had convinced legislative leaders of the need to act. “I’m very optimistic,” he said. “There’s a recognition in the Legislature that we do need to do something. … The atmosphere is right to do this.”
Residents are also seeing the need for the additional funds, he said, with some areas not seeing adequate snow plowing or having paved road returned to gravel because the money is not there to repair them.
John Niemela, executive director of the County Roads Association of Michigan, agreed this year was the year. “We spent 2012 with both the House and the Senate looking at it,” he said. “2013 is the year we’re going to get it done after talking about it for a year and half.”
Linden Mayor David Lossing, president of the Michigan Municipal League Board of Trustees, said the Legislature has been focused only on part of businesses’ bottom lines in the last couple of years. “We can cut all the taxes we want, but if we can’t move goods from point A to point B, it won’t do us any good,” he said. “Bottom line: it’s time to replace the plywood patches on too many Michigan highway bridges with pavement. It’s time to fix our roads and rebuild our infrastructure so Michigan is again attractive to employers and a talented workforce.”
The Michigan Transportation Team, a group of business and road-building interests, also said it was time to move the changes. “The time is now to save money, save lives and just fix the roads,” the group said in a statement. “Our broad based coalition – at a time when Lansing is as divided as ever – is proof of the widespread grassroots support for fixing our roads now. We are ready to partner with the Governor and Legislature to support a comprehensive solution now that will fix our roads.”
And Niemela said Snyder had shown more direct leadership than his predecessor despite demonstrations for several years that there was need for more revenue.
But he said the budget presentation would show the governor’s commitment. “If those numbers are reflected in the budget, that will be the real tell (on) how aggressive we’re going to be,” he said.
Snyder had argued it should not be hard to find the political will to find the new funds. “Let’s be blunt, this is about user fees,” he said.
Snyder also said not providing the additional funds, about $10 billion over 10 years, would leave $25 billion in needed repairs by 2022.
Steudle said the final package also has to be a long-term solution, not just a plan to put in the $10 billion to $12 billion needed now. “It has to have some mechanism to allow it to grow over time,” he said.
But he also acknowledged that the last time highway funds were increased for the state, the Legislature fell short of the mark. Analysts at the time had said the need was closer to 12 cents per gallon, but legislators 15 years ago only had the will to increase the tax 4 cents to the current 19-cent per gallon level.
Niemela said the plan had to include some provisions for expansions and new roadways in addition to needed maintenance. “I don’t think that’s the major focus, but it should be in the dialogue,” he said.
Environmental groups said the package also cannot focus solely on roads. “We need to build a transportation system that is a catalyst for economic vitality and quality of life in Michigan,” said Chris Kolb, Michigan Environmental Council president. “That means more than simply funding for roads and bridges. It must encompass a strategic mix of transportation options that will maintain our current roads and bridges, increase support for public transit, link our cities by rail, and provide safe routes for walking and biking in our communities.”
The final package could mean even more of a hit to some motorists. Steudle said the governor’s proposal would only provide enough funds to cover state trunklines, but he said there were local roads in the same poor condition.
He indicated the changes in the funding formula would push more of the state and federal funding to those larger routes. Snyder has spoken of redoing the formula, PA 51 of 1951, to emphasize commercial corridors.
Niemela said the counties would be reviewing the funding formula carefully. He said proposals released last year were not really achievable. One plan would have distributed funds based on vehicle miles traveled on a roadway, but he said most communities do not have the traffic data needed to make that formula work.
The final package will include some option for local communities to raise their own funds beyond the current property tax, Steudle said. “Right now the only option locals have is what comes from the state,” he said.
EARLY CHILDHOOD: Snyder touched only briefly on expanding the state’s investment in early childhood education, but Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said the additional funds were critical.
“He’s going to make a big investment,” Flanagan said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
The Children’s Leadership Council of Michigan, a business group supporting education, praised the plan. “The governor is right on the mark. Deeper investment in early childhood is a business imperative. This is a crucial strategy to vastly improve grade school reading and math proficiency, save tremendous amounts of money on fewer grade repetitions and a long tail of social services costs, and steadily result in a more competitive work force in the long term,” co-chairs Doug Luciani and Debbie Dingell said.
But teacher unions at least were skeptical.
“Actions speak louder than words, and after the past two years, it’s clear we just can’t trust Gov. Snyder,” AFT Michigan President David Hecker said in a statement. “Instead of investing in education, he cut $1 billion from K-12 schools. When he said Right to Work wasn’t on his agenda, he signed a bill without holding a single committee hearing. Talk about investing in early childhood education is cheap. It’s time to make public education a top priority to give our kids a better future.”
A coalition of school groups including the Michigan Association of School Boards, Michigan Association of School Administrators, Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators and the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals, said the plan had to come from new money.
“We appreciate Governor Snyder’s focus on expanding investment in Michigan’s Great Start Readiness Program,” the groups said in a statement. “This program is a crucial part of Michigan’s public school system and deserves to be expanded. But the education community will not support funding early childhood programs at the expense of Michigan’s other school students, in light of the major cuts that K-12 education has borne over the past two years.”
Michigan League for Public Policy President Gilda Jacobs said Snyder did not address all of the needs of the children eligible for the program. “While we appreciate Governor Snyder’s support of early childhood education, he failed to mention child poverty, which is on his dashboard,” she said. “Child poverty is on the increase in Michigan.”
Flanagan agreed the proposal was only a start. He said it would cost some $130 million to make slots for all 29,000 children eligible, a number he said would not be forthcoming in this budget. But he said he hoped to see $75 million provided for the Great Start programs.
And he said a pathway had to be developed to reach full funding. “Eventually all these kids have to be served,” he said.
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