By Patrick Donges
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-987425.mp3
Pittsfield, MA – Wednesday, the Massachusetts Transportation Advisory Committee, or TAC, an independent board of the state's Department of Transportation made up of appointees from the planning and transportation sectors, issued a new report which shows that the state's highway system has been accruing debt over the last several years.
Tim Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and member of the state TAC's finance sub-committee, described the current funding picture as, "grim."
"The commonwealth's transportation funding gap in terms of our transport systems, highway, and transit has worsened substantially. We also have an extraordinarily high debt load."
"I think the 'a-ha' moment for us was that 74 percent of the commonwealth's trust fund revenue which goes to transportation is now going to debt service, in other words we're paying back debt we already have."
Brennan said that repayment of that debt, accrued over the years as the state borrowed to fund basic operating expenses, means that the funding available for transportation improvements is highly constrained.
About $145 million of the state DOT's annual operating budget is currently paid for with borrowed money, a practice Brennan said may have been necessary during tough fiscal times, but which has at this point out lived it's shelf life.
"Our fear, and I think it's a substantial fear, is that a point will come that the only funds that you have will be spent for debt rather than for investing in the system. You could face a point of no return where all you have is debt."
Reaching that point would have dire consequences for the entire state, not the least of which for the western half, home to aging roads and bridges which have taken a pummeling from rain this summer.
There are also implications for statewide economic development, as construction workers aren't the only industry dependent on safe and functional highways and public transit; here's Brennan.
"There are the jobs that are created in keeping the transportation system in a good state of repair, and then there's what the transportation system does to not just move people but to move the economy; 90 percent of the goods in the commonwealth move in and out by truck."
Gary Shepard, administrator of the Berkshire Regional Transportation Authority, was a member of the committee that drafted the 2007 report that this week's report is meant to update. Shepard said the latest numbers were not surprising given the data published just four years ago.
"Wherever there was new projects coming on there was no revenue to pay for those projects, and we didn't have enough money just to maintain what we have. It certainly is not sustainable."
Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, was also a member of the 2007 committee.
He said the state has let the transportation infrastructure decline over several decades, as large regional projects, notably Boston's "big dig" central artery project, were undertaken without a dedicated revenue source, depriving the rest of the state.
"Now what we need to do is identify new revenue. We need to have the political will to do this. We haven't raised the gas tax in 20 years; it hasn't been adjusted for inflation."
"I think we need to face that reality and increase the gas tax, but that's not going to happen certainly until after 2012."
Until action is taken by the state, municipal governments and regional planning agencies will be left to find funding for necessary infrastructure improvements.
Clete Kus, transportation program manager for the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, said in the coming months he will begin working with officials to determine what degree of locally sourced funding will be required, and the best ways to go about realizing that funding.
"Any way you look at it it's going to be some sort of tax or fee increase. Whether it be an increase to the gas tax, registration fees, or a vehicle miles traveled tax."
State officials said yesterday that the riders of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, or MBTA, which runs public transit in Boston, will likely face a heavy fare increase.
In the Berkshires, Shepard didn't say a fare increase was off the table, but did characterize the move as a futile gesture in the face of ever growing expenses, increased demand, and shrinking revenues.
"No amount of fare increase is going to ever make up the amount of money we need to cover our services."