An Open Letter to Michigan State Senators
You are likely voting today on SB 1164 as amended by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday afternoon. As a former legislator, I appreciate the difficult decisions you are struggling with in trying to address our state’s critical needs. However, please be advised that this Department of Transportation 2011 budget bill represents a disingenuous effort at circumventing the clear recommendations of the Transportation Funding Task Force (TF2), the “blue ribbon” committee appointed by the Governor and Legislative leadership and which released its recommendations in November, 2009; none of which have yet been enacted by this Legislature. The Task Force, in its report, raised the clear need for greater investment in our state’s roads, bridges and public transportation infrastructure. Subsequently, legislation has been introduced that would accomplish many of the recommendations made by the TF2. Those bills remain stuck in committees.
Further, SB 1164 is a clear raid upon Comprehensive Transportation Funds (CTF) intended for use in public transportation projects to provide the necessary $84 million state shortfall to fully match available federal road funds in 2011. Not only is it a raid on earmarked CTF funds but it also takes state matching funds for the federal Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) program which will result in an even greater shortfall in matching available federal funds for public transportation projects in Michigan in 2011.
For several years MDOT has been failing to fully match available federal transit funds for use in Michigan with hard dollars, instead using “toll credits.” In 2011 we were already predicted to fall short in matching federal transit dollars by approximately $30 million. (For every $1 the state puts in on the transit side, we have available $4 from the federal government.) This $30 million shortfall is above and beyond the $84 million shortfall in matching federal dollars for road construction. So the real need is not $84 million, but more on the order of $115 million.
SB 1164 merely “robs Peter to pay for Paul.” It takes primarily from public transportation and gives to road construction, while compounding the problems we already have in failing to meet the state match for available federal funding. To redirect these funds from their intended purpose to meet the match for federal road funds is, frankly, deceitful.
This is not a solution, it is a stopgap measure so that you can say you met the road funding match shortfall without raising the gas tax. It is, at best, a one year fix for the road funding and, at worst, a long-term complication for our public transportation infrastructure funding.
As many of you know, during my tenure in the Legislature, I chaired the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation. So I know what the line items mean and I also know the tricks that can be played in crafting a budget document. Please allow me to elaborate on some of the line items that are being cut under SB 1164, so that you may fully understand the impact this will have on transit across the state.
But before I address CTF line items, let’s consider this: In the State Transportation Fund (STF) there is the largest cut of all from Maintenance: $40.3 million. Now I ask you, does it really make sense to cut road maintenance in order to leverage more federal road dollars?
Let’s look at some of the public transportation line items:
Intercity Services: $725,000 These are Intercity Bus and Rail subsidies for Amtrak and Indian Trails to provide essential core route service. The majority of riders on intercity buses have no other alternatives to move from one part of Michigan to another.
Marine Passenger Services: $60,000 These funds are utilized to transport residents daily to and from Drummond Island, Neebish Island, Sugar Island (in the Sault region) and Beaver Island in Lake Michigan.
Specialized Services: $521,100 This funding goes to transport primarily elderly and disabled, particularly in counties that have no other organized public transportation service. Often utilizing volunteer drivers, this program has been severely cut in the past several years and is failing to meet the far greater statewide need.
Municipal Credit Program: $300,000 The program helps to fund bus purchases, primarily in SE Michigan.
Transportation to Work/Work First: $2.3 million This one is the most egregious cuts and makes absolutely no sense, since these funds help leverage more federal transit dollars. This is also known as the Job Access/Reverse Commute (JARC) program. It is used extensively by Flint MTA, The Rapid in Grand Rapids, and metro Detroit but also in many rural areas throughout the state. It gets people to and from work when they have no other way of accessing their jobs. Proponents of this cut say that this line item has lapsed funds in recent years; however, they likely won’t say that the need has been growing each year and that MDOT projects that the full recommended line item of $9.3 million will be fully needed in 2011.
Van Pooling: $19,500 This program has been all but destroyed from its high level in the 1990s. It is the state program that encourages people to carpool and rideshare to and from work by providing state matching funds for vans.
MDOT personnel could tell you what all of the other line items fund in great detail. But this will give you a start to know that these are real programs that impact real people in your districts all across the state.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me for further clarification.
Sincerely,
Clark Harder
Executive Director
Michigan Public Transit Association
517-324-0858