NEWS

DOT chief: Crumbling Iowa roads need money

William Petroski
bpetrosk@dmreg.com
DOT Director Paul Trombino meets with The Des Moines Register’s editors and reporters on Wednesday.

The stage is set for the Iowa Legislature to undertake its most serious debate in years in addressing the state's crumbling system of roads and bridges, says Iowa Department of Transportation Director Paul Trombino.

That debate could include proposals to raise the gasoline tax; a hybrid plan that includes a wholesale tax on motor fuels; increasing permit fees for oversized and overweight vehicles; and a host of other options, Trombino said The DOT says Iowa is falling short by $215 million annually to meet the most critical needs for its system of city, county and state roads and bridges.

"I always tell people there is no perfect solution. If there was, I think we would have come up with it. Everything has its pros and cons," Trombino said in a meeting with Des Moines Register editors and reporters Wednesday.

Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, pledged during his recent re-election campaign that addressing the road funding issue will be a top priority during the upcoming legislation, which convenes in January. Democrats have criticized him for a lack of leadership on the issue. While Branstad hasn't endorsed any specific funding method, he has said he is open to work on solutions with state lawmakers.

Trombino emphasized that the best funding plan would provide a long-term, sustainable method of maintaining and upgrading Iowa's road system.

"We don't need a spike in funding. I don't need 7 percent growth per year. It is probably 1 to 1.5 percent. It is such a longstanding capital investment. I think that really the best overall mechanism is for us to see steady growth in time," Trombino said.

During the past legislative session, strong interest developed in a hybrid gas tax plan that failed to win approval, but could be revived during the 2015 session that convenes in January. The proposal would reduce Iowa's gasoline tax to 16 cents a gallon and would impose a new 5 percent wholesale tax on motor fuels. It's estimated the plan would generate an additional $230 million annually, and lawmakers said it would most importantly provide a form of economic indexing to avoid repeated consideration of future fuel tax increase.

The current fuel tax rate is 21 cents per gallon for regular gasoline and 19 cents for ethanol-blended gas. Diesel fuel is taxed at 22.5 cents per gallon.

Some of the other options for addressing the shortfall in road funding include a 10-cent increase in gasoline and diesel fuels; eliminating a tax exemption for farmers on fuel they use to operate tractors and other agricultural equipment; increasing fees for registering new vehicles from 5 percent to 6 percent; and increasing the oversize/overweight vehicle permit fees.

Trombino, who was appointed as the DOT's top administrator in 2011 by Branstad, has seen state lawmakers repeatedly discuss raising the gas tax each of the past four years. However, the idea has failed each time amid a lack of support from Republican lawmakers who have vowed to vote against any type of a tax increase.

The statewide Iowa Poll has consistently showed Iowans against a gas tax hike, with 58 percent in opposition to a 10-cent gas tax increase in a survey conducted in February.

However, the 40 percent support for a fuel tax increase earlier this year represented an 11-point swing in favor of a gas tax hike since February 201l, when just 29 percent of those polled were in favor. It was the third consecutive year the Register's Iowa Poll showed an increase in public support for raising the gas tax.

Trombino also made the following points on related topics Wednesday in his meeting with Register editors and reporters:

COST-CUTTING: Branstad has challenged the DOT to become more efficient, which has resulted in a little more than $60 million in savings that has been plowed back into the state's infrastructure.

BONDING: Although the vast majority of other states issue bonds to help pay for highway projects, Trombino said he supports Iowa's pay-as-you-go approach, which avoids bonding for state projects. "Pay-as-you-go is the right thing," he said, noting that many other states are paying hundreds of millions of dollars annually in interest payments for roads and bridges already constructed. However, some Iowa counties have been issuing bonds to pay for county road projects because of tight sources of other road funding.

CONSOLIDATION: Trombino rejects the idea of a state DOT-takeover of city and county road systems in an efficiency move, although transportation agencies in North Carolina and Missouri oversee the vast majority of their road systems. "Local input and local control are very important things. Local roads have a very different purpose than state roads. I don't view it as the department's role to make those decisions," he said.

CHOICES: He cautioned that Iowa faces tough decisions in the future in operating and maintaining its system of 114,000 miles of roads and 25,000 bridges. "What I think is important for us to figure out is what is affordable and frankly, what is not affordable," he said. "There are choices here."

IF NOTHING DONE: In examining Iowa's statewide map, it's already evident that structurally deficient bridges and pavement problems are causing some out-of-distance travel, even in metro areas, he said. That additional travel is increasing the costs of delivering products from Iowa's manufacturers and farmers to markets, and those extra costs need to be weighed as lawmakers address the road funding issue, he added. If nothing is done, road and bridges will continue to deteriorate to the point where they close themselves, he said.