What’s it going to take to alleviate Oakland County’s road problems?
Lots and lots of additional money, according to Brent O. Bair, managing director of the Road Commission for Oakland County. Possibly five new local taxes.
Bair addressed the Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce last week about the county’s road problems, primarily congestion and the lack of funding, and a possible localized solution to help combat them.
Chamber members were asked to remember three things during Bair’s presentation ? 1) ‘Oakland’s congestion problem is getting worse.? 2) ‘Existing funding is inadequate to deal with it.? 3) ‘No one’s going to bail us out, not Lansing or Washington (D.C.).?
Bair said there are two problems facing the road commission ? the condition of the roads (i.e. the pavement) and congestion.
With regard to the first problem, Bair said, ‘Obviously we’re talking about potholes ? old roads that are breaking up.?
‘How come the roads in other states are so much better than in Michigan?? is a question Bair said he hears a lot. The answer is funding.
In terms of spending for roads, Michigan ranks in the bottom 10 states of the nation.
‘Roads have been Michigan’s forgotten priority,? Bair said. ‘When you don’t spend money on infrastructure, the infrastructure starts getting worse and worse.?
The money for road repairs comes from the Michigan Transportation Fund (MTF), which derives its money from the state-collected gas tax (the fund’s largest single source), vehicle registration fees and diesel taxes and other miscellaneous sources.
Bair said Michigan’s gas tax is ‘well below the national average? and the diesel tax is ‘way at the bottom in terms of the rest of the nation.?
Between 1998 and 2002, the MTF grew less than 6 percent and from 2001 to 2002, state-collected gas taxes ‘went down 1 percent,? according to Bair.
As a result, the revenues the road commission receives from the state to take care of the roads ‘have been basically flat.?
‘What happens when your revenues are flat and your costs keep going up?? Bair asked. ‘Something’s got to give. In our case, it’s road repairs. We’re able to do less and less every year because our revenues have been flat.?
So what are the chance of increasing the state gas tax?
‘Absolutely no one is talking about it,? Bair said. ‘Nobody in Lansing wants to talk about a gas tax increase.
As for a diesel tax increase, there’s ‘no bispartisan support,? he said, ‘even though truckers are paying less than we are at the pumps.?
Bair noted Michigan is one of only seven states that applies sales tax to gas and diesel purchases, but none of that tax goes to roads.
What about replacing the sales tax on gasoline purchases with a gas tax increase?
Bair said the 6 percent sales tax could probably be eliminated and replaced with an 8-cent gas tax increase and people ‘would not see a difference at the pumps.?
However, the state Legislature would ‘have to make up the loss to the schools and they don’t want to touch that.?
As for eliminating Oakland’s status as a ‘donor county,? meaning it sends more money to Lansing than it receives back, that would entail tweaking the distribution so Oakland could get more money back. Unfortunately, this could only be done at a time when all the counties and communities are ‘getting more money? and ‘we don’t have that now,? Bair said.
In addition to lacking the necessary funding to keep up with needed road repairs, Oakland County is also in need of funds to alleviate its severe congestion problem.
Oakland has the ‘most heavily travelled and congested freeways and local roads in the state,? Bair said.
‘We’re approaching gridlock faster than any other area,? he said, noting that according to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, ‘almost half of all the congestion in southeast Michigan is in Oakland County.?
It would cost an estimated $1.7 billion over the next 10 years ($1.3 billion on county roads and $400 million on city and village streets) to widen local roads to adequately deal with the congestion problem as it exists today, Bair said.
Widening a two-lane road to a five-lane road costs $6 million per mile. To make it a four-lane boulevard costs $9 million per mile. A six-lane boulevard costs $11 million per mile.
‘And it’s all going up each year,? Bair warned. ‘Not because of construction costs, but because of right-of way costs.?
Buying the private property necessary to widen a road is ‘getting very, very expensive.?
‘It’s getting to the point where it costs more to buy the land to widen a road, then to construct the wider road itself,? Bair said. For those interested, he noted it currently costs $1.5 million per mile to pave a gravel road.
Oakland’s congestion problem is caused by the county’s ‘own success, our economic growth and development.?
More than 60 years ago most of the commuting trips to work were to downtown Detroit.
‘Everything was designed to handle those trips. All the major roads radiated around Detroit. Even the freeways all radiated out of Detroit,? Bair said.
However, since 1980 that’s all changed. The number of Oakland resident working in Detroit decreased by 12,000 while the number of Detroit residents working in Oakland increased 21,000.
The number of Oakland residents working in Macomb County went up 11,000, while the number of Macomb resident working in Oakland increased by 50,000.
‘We now have about 300,000 people commuting into Oakland County from surrounding counties,? Bair said.
The extra revenue generated by all the new development in the county isn’t helping the roads.
Bair said new development means additional revenue from property taxes, income tax and sales tax. But ‘none of it? goes for roads.
Bair said the road commission does get federal funds generated by federal gas taxes, however 75 percent of the federal money Michigan receives is kept by the Michigan Department of Transportation. The remaining 25 percent is ‘spread around? to all the state’s road commissions, cities and villages.
‘Oakland County sees a very small part of the remaining 25 percent,? Bair said.
Although there has been ‘talk in Congress? about increasing the federal gas tax, Bair said President George W. Bush has indicated he would ‘veto anything like it.? Even if it was increased, MDOT would still keep 75 percent of the additional federal revenues sent to the state, Bair said.
The federal monies the road commission does receive are distributed objectively through the county’s Federal Aid Task Force, which also distributes them to cities and villages.
In essence, the road commission competes with cities and villages for use of federal funds, Bair noted.
Again, lack of funding is the main problem.
Last year, the Funding Committee had ‘almost $22 million? in mostly federal funds to distribute, but received applications for projects totalling more than $186 million and some of those were just for design and engineering fees or purchasing right-of-ways, not construction. When construction was included, the total cost of those projects was nearly $290 million, Bair said.
Ending Michigan’s status as a donor state (meaning it sends more money to the federal government than it gets back) won’t help increase federal funds either.
The only way Michigan’s donor status could be ended was if ‘everybody’s getting more money? and that’s not going to happen because there are ‘no proposals to raise any federal taxes to get everybody more money,? Bair said.
Right now, Michigan get back almost 90 percent of the money it sends to Washington D.C., according to Bair. If that amount was increased to 95 percent, Michigan would receive an additional $50 million.
However, Oakland County would only receive an additional $700,000 for roads, ‘enough to widen less than two blocks of roads from two lanes to five lanes.?
‘There’s nothing going on at the federal level that’s going to bail us out,? Bair said.
Bair said ‘no single source (of revenue) is going to be enough? to alleviate Oakland’s congestion problem. It’s going to ‘take several sources of new money.?
With that Bair introduced Herb Hipple, a member of a transportation committee that’s part of the business roundtable which advises the county executive, to introduce the formation of a new group called ‘Businesses for Better Roads? (BBR).
BBR’s main goal would be to create a ‘Self-Help Congestion Fund,? a 10-year program consisting of ‘money raised locally and used locally? to fund the widening of county roads and city and village streets.
‘Congestion must be reduced in order to ensure economic vitality,? Hipple said.
BBR’s funding program includes the proposal of five new local tax increases:
n a 4-cent local gas and diesel tax increase
n a ?-mill countywide property tax
n a ?-percent local sales tax
n a 20 percent vehicle registration fee increase
n a $25 flat-rate driver’s license fee
It’s estimated if all five taxes were implemented, they could generate approximately $154.6 million annually.
BBR is also examining ‘development impact fees? and ‘special assessment districts? as other possible funding sources.
‘The business community must strongly support this effort if we want the public and public officials to support it,? Hipple said.
Hipple asked the Chamber of Commerce to consider adopting a resolution in support of BBR and its efforts.
Hipple said the next step is to form the BBR organization, which will consist of business leaders to ‘spearhead? the multi-year campaign effort and encourage similar programs in other counties.