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Follow TURFDMN: Bill White a bit sharper on transportation issues
9:19 AM Thu, Aug 26, 2010
Rodger Jones/Editorial Writer
The bosses asked me to bone up on the governor's race and transportation for an editorial that ran today. Bill White's people put him on the phone with me, and I had a chat with Perry spokesman Mark Miner. I also pored over both of their answers on the DMN's voter's guide (which hasn't gone on line yet).
My take:
-- White has essentially the same message as in the spring, but it's a little sharper, and he seems better prepped on the politics of options and financing. One frustration is that he still will not get into individual taxes or fees that should be available for a local-option vote, and he won't get off of the tiresome subject of the Trans-Texas Corridor. The TTC was one of KBH's pet attack issues. It didn't get her anywhere, but it may poll well for White's people. (More on that in a separate blog.)
-- Perry has a pat hand: No new taxes, White is a taxer, government has to tighten its belt, projects have to be prioritized. Miner said: "Everything that people say needs to be built aren't going to get built." Message: the important things will get done, and other stuff will have to wait.
Miner said a local-option bill is "taking the easy way out." Why not let voters have their say, since they might think certain unfunded projects are important enough to get built? "Gov. Perry is against raising taxes."
As our edit said, the status quo guarantees more tolls. Tolls have become a proxy for gas taxes, and they hit some wallets a lot harder. Look at the NTTA's toll schedule. The Richardson resident who works in Las Colinas pays $8 a day to commute round trip on the GBT.
Why doesn't he live closer to work or take free roads? 1) Consider realities of the job market. My nephew moved to Dallas less than five years ago to do corporate recruiting. So far he has officed out of Addison , CityPlace, Irving, Richardson and now Southlake. 2) Toll roads are built along corridors that people need to travel. Alternatives take time out of your day.
With money tight out of Austin and Washington, the region has little choice but to rely on tolls. The NTTA says building the Bush as a toll road sped up its construction by 10 years.
If you ask politicians about tolls, they say that planners need "all the tools." Ask the toll-payers about that. They'll tell you that the real tools are the politicians.
Full disclosure: White is somewhat aligned with the DMN editorial position of many years, which is to let voters decide. And we've been bullish on using new money to extend the rail transit network. We have also endorsed Sen. John Carona's call for a 10-cent tax increase on motor fuels.
Irony: Our editorial was kind to White and rough on Perry, but the governor's people probably came away more than satisfied. The accompanying graphic excerpted their positions, and Perry was first alphabetically. He's got to be loving the fact that the page showcased this quote from him: "I do not favor a plan that would include raising local taxes."
I'm attaching a transcript with a Q&A I had with White. I sent the same questions to Perry's camp, but didn't get answers back. I deleted a portion of the conversaion I had with White on the TTC. It'll be in another blog.
I'm also attaching the two candidates' answers to the DMN voters guide questions.
Interview with Bill White:
White's opener: Long-term planning for our state requires leadership from the governor. Leadership is more than passing a law or giving a speech for selling one's own ideas. One of many flaws with the Trans-Texas Corridor idea of Rick Perry's was a top-down push rather than involving stakeholders including local elected officials, the business community and transportation professionals, as well as members of the Legislature, in crafting that plan. ...
As a candidate for governor, I want to give a clear sense of direction that leadership is not dictating the details of a long-term transportation plan. ...
In Houston, we found that we improved mobility in the community by using the best ideas, setting a course of direction, and they crafting a plan with broad-based participation.
Q. What's your position on allowing metro areas to vote on raising new transportation money locally, and what fees and taxes ought to be made available?
A. Current state law confines local government to raising property taxes to pay for transportation infrastructure. Local voters should have more options than that. I don't think the state should be in the business of binding the options that local voters desire.
Q. Is there a list of potential option you have considered?
I don't want to have a list that limits things, but I have heard many different people, including Sen. Carona, Sen. Williams, Sen. Watson, and local elected officials, including those in the metroplex, talk about different options. It would be fair to say my bias would be to sign a bill with any option that local officials wanted the voters to consider.
It's a philosophy of government. Rick Perry has tended to concentrate power in Austin. I like to see local voters have more power and options.
Q. What's your position on raising the statewide motor fuels tax?
A. That wouldn't be on my agenda. We have to have -- end the diversions over time of the current motor fuels tax. That's the first step.
Q. Would locally raised money be enough to meet transportation needs, or would metro areas need more revenue out of Austin?
A. Let's start with the revenue that we have in Austin through motor fuels taxation and federal formula funding.
For projects of regional significance, I think we will be able to stretch those dollars by more grants to local folks within the regions who are capable of managing all that project and reducing the duplicative overhead between TxDOT and those regions.
For projects of statewide significance -- such as expanding I-35 -- those should take the high priority for new-start funding by the state. So there are projects of statewide significance-- the de-bottlenecking of I-35 being the classic case, and another one being the extension of the interstate highway system to the Lower Rio Grande Valley -- that have statewide significance. Those should be funded in part by federal funds and new start money funded from traditional sources.
Q. Should the state gas tax ever be raised?
A. I think the place to start on that is to phase out the diversions. I'm not one to say what happens in five, 10, 20 years in the future of the state.
There are many people who realize that cars are becoming are more and more fuel efficient -- and they should become more and more fuel efficient. So the mix between motor fuels taxes and other sources of revenue I can't predict in the future. But I'll say this: We need to have a broad, bi-partisan expert panel develop such a plan and those kind of projects.
Q. The D-FW area is relying on tolls to build nearly every major highway project. Do you favor more of this in the future?
A. I would defer entirely to the priorities of local government, with the approval of voters on how they fund locally managed transportation infrastructure.
Unlike [late Transportation Commission Chairman Ric] Williamson and the cabal of investment bankers and private concerns, I wouldn't be pushing tolls roads as the solution.
Q. Local officials say they have no choice but to turn to tolls because of the lack of highway money. How would you help them do things otherwise, if that were their wish?
A. I would remove some of the impediments of the alternatives they could offer to voters, and we would make more predictable and direct grants to regional organizations where their priorities could be determined within those regions, and the projects could be managed within those regions, rather than have the duplicative overhead taken out in phases between the transportation professionals and the engineers at each level of government.
Q. Do you support creation of more state borrowing programs for highways (and we've had a bunch in recent years)?
A. Debt is appropriate if it is approved by voters and there is a dedicated source of funding that does not cannibalize needed maintenance. This occurs routinely for generations in Texas for local transportation infrastructure. So for example, in Houston and Harris County, as bonds to build roads have been paid off, then voters have authorized new debt as old bonds are paid off without raising taxes. There's a portion of the available funds for property taxes that's dedicated to capital improvements and a portion dedicated to operations and maintenance.
Most local jurisdictions, when they are managed well, maintain those percentages in accordance with a plan. In contrast, according to Ms. Delisi [Transportation Commission Chairman Deidre Delisi], the bonds that TxDOT has issued will result in the cannibalization and reduction of required maintenance, and that's harvesting and not planning.
From the DMN voters guide questionnaire:
Q. How would you characterize the financial needs and condition of Texas' roadway system?
Bill White: Texas' transportation system is broken, as a massive recent audit confirmed. Texas must have a long-term transportation plan in which local communities have a voice. Priorities should be set from the bottom up and not the top down. Planning should be multi-modal. The Perry Administration was diverted from effective long-term planning because of its preoccupation with the Trans Texas Corridor. Lack of planning has caused enormous bottlenecks and traffic congestion, which hurts Texas families and the state's ability to attract new businesses.
Rick Perry: For years, Washington has short-changed Texas taxpayers, sending back around 70 cents for road construction for every dollar in motor fuels taxes that Texans send to Washington. We have the lowest rates of return on our dollar compared to any other state. This is due to Washington's failure to uphold a system that is fair, not driven by pork and earmarks for powerful congressional members. Texas also currently diverts a large portion of dollars intended for transportation to other state programs. These diversions must end. Despite these challenges, Texas has found innovative ways to build the roads we need, building more roadway miles than any other state in the last 10 years.
Q. What ways of generating new transportation revenue would you support -- taxes, tolls, borrowing, fees, other? Please be specific.
Bill White: I do not support tolling existing roadways but support allowing local entities, with voter approval, various options to fund local transportation and mobility projects. Before any new funding plan is enacted, careful effort and study must be made to look for efficiencies within TXDOT and its budget.
Rick Perry: First of all, we need to get more of our money back from Washington D.C. for road construction. Texas has for years been short-changed by Washington, receiving only 70 cents back for road construction for every dollar in motor fuels taxes. Secondly, we need to end diversions of state money and put dollars collected from gas taxes into building roads. Last session, we had some success with ending diversions, sending more than $300 million back to TxDOT, but next session we need to do more - we need to end all diversions from our state transportation fund.
Q. Do you favor a proposal to allow counties to call elections on local taxes and fees that could be used for transportation projects?
Bill White: I support giving local governments the opportunity, with the consent of their voters, to raise funds for transportation projects.
Rick Perry: I do not favor a plan that would include raising local taxes. Texans already pay a lot of money on a state, local and federal level on taxes that do not go to road construction as they are intended to. Before any other options are considered, we need to end diversions and get more of our money back from Washington D.C.