DFL Education Foundation

Peter McLaughlin and Transportation

In February the DFL Education Foundation hosted Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin on the subject of transportation in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

This pod cast was produced by the DFL Education Foundation and iDream.tv.

Click here for the full cast of what Commissioner McLaughlin had to say.
Download peterpodcastmp3_for_audio_podcasting.mp3

For the Strib

In watching the debate over taxes in our legislature, I hear little of what the no new taxes group considers to be an unnecessary investment in infrastructure or expenditure for public services.

I don’t hear anyone claiming our highways or transit system are not in need of attention. I don’t hear anyone arguing against the evidence that investment in early childhood education doesn’t have long-range benefits. I don’t hear anyone arguing an educated work force is not critical to the economic well being of the economy of our state. I don't I hear anyone claiming the status quo at the veterans home is acceptable. Nor do I hear claims our tax dollars are being wasted. By all means if money is being wasted let's identify the waste, stop it and transfer the “wasted funds” to needed areas.

It seems to me the question ought to be: Are we getting value for our dollar? If the various investments to be funded by the proposed tax increases are indeed of value, if not critical to the future of this state, it seems we ought to find a way to pay for them. Doing so shouldn’t be impossible, considering we are now paying a smaller portion of our income in taxes than we were a few short years ago.

Dwaine Lindberg

PS A version of this letter appeared in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Let's Get Moving - Transportation in Minnesota (video)

See the video of our session on the challenges for transportation in Minnesota and how to address them, featuring Dave Van Hattum, from Transit for Livable Communities and Adeel Lari from the Humphrey Institute.

Adeel Lari, Director of Innovative Transportation Finance, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, recently toured Northern Europe and shared his thoughts on Europe's fuel pricing and if any European practices could be applied to Minnesota and the United States. He is a former employee of the Minnesota Department of Transportation and has worked on the I394 MnPASS project.

Dave Van Hattum, Policy and Advocacy Program Manager of Transit for Livable Communities, discussed current legislative activities and the recent constitutional amendment passage. He is a graduate of the Humphrey Institute and worked for the Downtown Mpls. Transportation Management Organization and the I-494 Corridor Commission. 

Click here to watch the video

Transportation at election time

As discussed earlier this summer here, Minnesota transportation funding shortfalls have eroded the quality of roads and increased time wasted in traffic and delays.  The Star Tribune reviews the latest state of transportation and has a look at how the three major party candidates plan to improve the transportation picture if elected governor.

Major potholes in MnDOT's transportation budget

As mentioned previously, Minnesota's transportation budget shows a significant shortfall, with nearly $1 billion in underfunded projects.  This shortfall has finally shown up on the bottom line, with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) sliding from a heady surplus in 2002 to a budget deficit of $60 million this year.  The budget crunch has also shown itself in postponed projects and the most recent debacle of asking contractors to front $90 million of the major Crosstown-35W bottleneck project. 

While skyrocketing construction costs (especially for materials such as steel and concrete) have eroded MnDOT's budget, there's still the significant factor of income, with the state adding no new income sources since the last gas tax increase in 1988.  A ballot question this fall will allow voters to dedicate the entire motor vehicle tax to transportation, but at the expense of the state's general fund, also recently strapped for cash.  The governor's plan was to add $2.5 billion in borrowed money to transportation construction, but offers no new spending for the increasingly sparse maintenance budget.  At some point, a good transportation system requires construction and maintenance, and both require a steady funding stream.

Disturbingly, neither Democrat nor Republican gubernatorial candidates are offering anything new on transportation.  For that, you have to look to Peter Hutchinson's "team," which hasn't shied away from a gas tax or other usage fee to balance the transportation budget.

Where's the beef?

In a bold new proposal, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty has proposed giving the top 25% of Minnesota high school students two free years at the state's public universities (University of Minnesota or MNSCU systems).  This proposal clearly borrows from the Citizens League innovative study on higher education that asserts that all of the state's students should be receiving K-14 education. 

This proposal has several significant merits:

• It offers academic-based scholarships
• It reduces the financial burden of higher education
• It provides a (slightly) means-tested benefit
• It helps retain top talent in-state

However, the proposal lacks a key detail - who will pay?  Given the governor's historical commitment to "no new taxes," some other government service will likely pay the price if the state picks up the tab.  Will it be transportation, already significantly underfunded? Health care for the poor, which has already endured several budget cutbacks?  Alternatively, this proposal also could be the ultimate unfunded mandate, requiring the U of M and MNSCU to cover the cost of thousands of top students in an era of rapid tuition increases.

The governor should be lauded for a bold education proposal, but citizens should keep a careful eye on who will be asked to pick up the tab.

JFF

It's time to pay the road bill

The 35W-Crosstown construction project is facing yet another delay, this time because the state’s controversial funding plan would have contractors fronting as much as $90 million in construction funds during the project. The Star Tribune’s editorial board notes that this scheme is indicative of a much larger problem – MnDOT and the state are simply too short on cash to be pursuing adequate transportation construction. With no gas tax increase since 1988, despite growing population, traffic, and inflation, MnDOT simply cannot keep up with growing travel needs.

Instead of asking contractors to essentially loan construction money to the state, what about the HOT lane alternative, currently employed in the MnPass system on I-394. While the Citizens League published information from a recent study by the Humphrey Institute, noting that the toll lane does help improve traffic flow, the Star Tribune explained in a January 20^th article that “the experimental project…is not covering its costs…[and] at the current rate of collection, tolls won't begin to cover operations for more than a decade,” much less new road construction.

Since the credit card is maxed out and private businesses have no desire to bail out MnDOT, it’s probably time for the taxpayer to resume responsibility for their roads.

JFF