DOT chief predicts funding shortfall

Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican

1/21/2008 - 1/22/08

The state Transportation Department needs more than $216 million in additional revenue for the upcoming fiscal year to maintain roads, transit programs and current public-safety levels.

Department Secretary Rhonda Faught and members of her executive team delivered that message to state lawmakers on the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee on Monday afternoon. Today, they are expected to meet with state representatives on a House committee to talk about DOT's budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

"The current level of funding will not sustain New Mexico's transportation needs into the future," Faught said.

The secretary said she's proud that the state's traffic fatalities have decreased by about 16 percent, with 409 reported fatalities between January and October of 2006 and 343 over the same months in 2007. She warned, however, that without upkeep of infrastructure and continued improvements, it will be hard, if not impossible, to hold that trend.

The department's operating budget for the current fiscal year was more than $807 million, according to a report furnished to lawmakers.

Among shortfalls predicted for fiscal year 2008 is an estimated $83 million for highway maintenance, $3.7 million in gap funding for Rail Runner Express commuter train operations for about six months, $81 million for deficient bridges and for bridge maintenance and $49 million for rural public transit.

While Faught offered varying reasons for budget problems, the top two are escalating construction costs and federal funding at levels far lower than promised. The cost of asphalt, for example, has increased 118 percent since 2003.

A study ordered during last year's legislative session identified long-term funding shortfalls and recommended sustainable funding strategies for the department, including two that the ranking Republican Senate Transportation Committee member, Sen. H. Diane Snyder of Albuquerque, hopes to impose this session.

"We have a very serious problem, and I don't know if we can do this in this 30-day session, but we do need a long-term solution for transportation," she said.

Snyder has introduced a bill that would restore money from the state's motor vehicle excise tax to the state road fund, putting that money to work for transportation needs instead of applying it to the state's general fund.

Since 1996, the state has funneled that cash away from transportation, the department report showed. The excise tax netted the state about $121.5 million during fiscal year 2006.

A second bill from the senator seeks to increase compliance with the state's weight-distance tax on over-the-road truckers by adding penalties for failure to pay and steep fines when such failure is deemed intentional.

Faught said Gov. Bill Richardson is not backing any proposals to increase revenue through new sources during this 30-day session, but said she expects such a movement in the future. "I can assure you, next year we will be back," she said.

Also looking ahead, Faught and Richardson both support creation of a new regional transit district, already authorized by previous legislation, that would create an opportunity to raise gross receipts tax revenue to defray Rail Runner operating costs. The commuter rail's operating costs are expected to rise to between $17 million and $20 million for fiscal year 2009.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.