The Milwaukee Post

June 24, 2016 • Milwaukee County Post • 9 OPINION Governor offers no solutions to state's road mess BY JESSICA MCBRIDE This is irresponsible governing. In case you missed it, the governor's own Transportation secretary told the media that 90 percent of our state's roads will "continue to deteriorate." He was referring to what will happen if the "revenue-neutral" Transportation budget he's planning to pro- pose passes. It's extremely irresponsible to propose a budget you admit will cause almost all of our roads to "deteriorate." But don't blame DOT Secretary Mark Gottlieb, he's just acting at Gov. Scott Walker's direc- tion, according to Gottlieb's comments in the Wisconsin State Journal. Let's recap: Roads are deteriorating in part because more fuel-efficient vehicles bring in less gas tax revenue. But Walker won't allow an increase in the gas tax or reg- istration fees, two obvious ways to bring in more revenue. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, "Gottlieb said the budget, if passed as requested, would prioritize bridges and U.S. interstates and highways, but put every- thing else on the back burner. 'That non- backbone system, which is about 90 percent of the state highway system, is going to con- tinue to deteriorate in condition,' Gottlieb said." The story also said the Transportation budget would cause delays in statewide road construction, possibly including rebuilding of the Zoo Interchange and expansion of I-94 south of Milwaukee. Great. As if the Zoo Interchange wasn't already an annoying mess. Specifically, the story said: "Gottlieb said his forthcoming budget request to Gov. Scott Walker will not propose major tax or fee increases — a move Gottlieb acknowledged would delay road expansion work and upkeep of all but the state's most-traveled highways." Technically, Walker doesn't put forth his own plan for months, but, he's already told the media that the tax and fee hikes are off the table, and Gottlieb cited this point in explaining why the budget will be "revenue-neutral." That's right. The governor refuses to raise the gas tax (not increased for 10 years here) or registration fees (well, he always includes the caveat — unless the increase is offset by tax cuts elsewhere). But money doesn't grow on trees. The consequence? Almost all of our state's roads continuing to fall apart when they're already routinely ranked among the country's worst. Good government? I am all for tax cutting and revenue-neu- tral budgeting until it impacts public safety and isn't accompanied by reform. To heck with the consequences is not OK. What is the governor's plan? If I was a legislative Republican, I would be angry. The governor has left his own party in the Legislature holding the bag while sig- naling he will block obvious fixes. He's pre- venting solutions but handing fellow Republicans the prob- lem. This helps him (leg- islative Republicans are forced to be tax-raising bad guys while he stands firm and objects), but not the state. I have a suspicion that there's bloat in the Transportation budget. However, short of mumbling stuff about vague inefficiencies, Walker has identified none. Now there are media reports of multi- million-dollar cost overruns in highway projects from past delays. This is governing for a headline and polit- ical future. This is a governor who realizes that "I will never, ever raise taxes" has worked for him politically for years (so, frankly, it's the public's own fault). However, good governing is also pragmatic. It's about solving problems. I miss Tommy Thompson. He didn't just complain about problems (like welfare), he proposed big reforms (like W-2). We need visionary ideas to solve the DOT mess. Maybe we should scale registration fees to the value of cars. Maybe we need to serious- ly consider toll roads (at least near the Illinois border, but those require federal approval). Maybe we do need to consider raising the gas tax (at least out-of-state driv- ers would help pay the cost of roads they used, then). Some have floated the idea of a tax on miles traveled. We need to start hear- ing some innovative ideas coming out of our governor, instead of only being told what he won't do. Republicans remind us that government is the problem, but there are some things we need government to do. Providing decent, safe roadways is an essential governmental function. The governor doesn't like street- cars or high-speed trains, either. Are we sup- posed to walk? We went through this same song-and- dance routine last time. The solution was to borrow, borrow, borrow. Republicans preach to us about how they run government like average Joes and Janes balance their check- books (whereas Democrats just blow the family paycheck every month). However, this is more like Joe and Jane taking no new steps to bring in new revenue when they know the roof might fall on the kids' heads. It's like Joe and Jane taking out new credit cards to fix the roof when they've already got a bunch of credit cards charged to the max. It's simply not OK to govern this way. Pretending otherwise is just blind team loy- alty or cult of personality. (Jessica McBride is a Merton resident and journalism instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her opinions are her own and don't represent UWM.) McBride Statewide, the story is the same: Fix the roads By CRAIG THOMPSON Over the past several weeks, the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin hosted community discussions about local transportation concerns. We held sessions in La Crosse, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Janesville and Wausau. Businesses, farmers, health care providers and local government officials across the state showed up and had stories to tell and perspectives to share about how transporta- tion affects their regions. While each part of Wisconsin has its own characteristics, economic drivers and set of issues, what we heard was remarkably con- sistent: Reliability of the system is key to business- es competitiveness. It is not an "either-or." Wisconsin's transportation system is a net- work — each component is essential. Our transportation infrastructure is in disrepair. Local Governments are forced to do "work arounds," which are not ideal, due to insuffi- cient state funding. It may be intuitive that transportation affects businesses' bottom line but hearing specific examples from company representa- tives brought the point home. Kwik Trip has had to implement shorter intervals between maintenance on their vehicles due to road problems. The Interstate 39/90 corridor was called Van Galder Bus lines' lifeline. Frito Lay's sales are jeopardized if they fail to hit a one-hour window with their deliveries. The gentleman from Blain's Farm & Fleet said the safety of his drivers keeps him up at night. Farmers repeatedly shared stories of hav- ing their routes increased significantly due to bridges and roads that are now weight restricted. Timber producers are facing simi- lar challenges. Story after story confirmed what we learned in a recent report from TRIP, a nation- al transportation research group that found Wisconsin roads are in tough shape. It's also why the Wisconsin Taxpayer's Alliance gave our roads a "D" — the lowest grade on their 2015 report card. From local government officials, we heard an all too consistent story as well. Due to a lack of state funding, many have increased their reliance on bonding to simply try and keep up. If it wasn't increasing bonding, it was increasing the property tax or in some cases a local wheel tax. A city of Marshfield official discussed an upcoming referendum to exceed the property tax limit and increase property taxes by more than 10 percent to try and address several specific road projects. A Town of Lisbon official shared a story about how residents showed up at the annual meet- ing and voted for the most aggressive option which included bonding for $8 million in road repairs over the next two years. That $8 mil- lion is about twice the town's $4.5 million operating budget. The other theme that was consistent was frustration. We heard business leaders and local government officials say, "It shouldn't be this hard." Other states have come to agreement on a solution to their transportation challenges. Over 20 states in the last several years have passed sustainable statewide transportation packages. Our neighbors in Michigan and Iowa are two of the more recent examples. Listening to stories of Wisconsin business- es hampered because of our deteriorating transportation infrastructure was difficult. Hearing local officials talk about the piece- meal solutions they are forced to come up with wasn't any better. In Wisconsin, we pay significantly less in our transportation user fees — meaning our combined vehicle registration fees and gas taxes — than any of our neighboring states. After listening to the effects on our business community and our citizens, the old adage of "penny wise and pound foolish" comes to mind. It's time to Just Fix It Wisconsin. (Craig Thompson is executive director of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin. Founded in 1971, the TDA promotes the vitality and safety of the state's transporta- tion system.)

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