Revenue forecast: Funds fade while prices go up
The Greater Morgantown Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board will meet at 7 p.m. Sept. 20, in City Council chambers, 389 Spruce St. The county’s service fee proposal will be discussed.
West Virginia Division of Highways officials presented a bleak financial outlook to the Greater Morgantown Metropolitan Planning Organization at a meeting Tuesday.
Later, the MPO discussed the county’s proposed service fee , after Monongalia County Commissioner Asel Kennedy asked committee members for input on the list of suggested projects.
Rob Watson, a DOH highway engineer, met with the MPO’s Technical and Citizens Advisory Committees and presented a “revenue forecast” designed to inform MPOs and other planning officials of how much money they can expect from the state over the next 25 years.
“The future’s not at all representative of the past,” Watson said. “Things are looking a little dire at the moment.”
Watson said that after remaining relatively steady for a decade, state transportation revenue decreased by $393 million from 2004 to 2006. Revenue is expected to decline even further during the next five years, he said.
Not only will less money be available, but also improvement projects will likely cost more. Highway construction costs have increased by nearly 40 percent since 2004, Watson said.
Don Williams, a DOH employee and a member of both MPO committees, attributed much of that increase to greater expenses for oil, steel and concrete.
“A bridge that would have cost us $2 million in 2004 is costing us $3 million,” Williams said.
Ultimately, the state’s seven MPOs — which serve 12 counties — will share an estimated $769.5 million over the next 25 years, Watson said. The Greater Morgantown MPO can expect about $74.7 million through 2032 — less money than the county’s proposed service fee is expected to generate during the next 30 years.
The money was divided among the MPOs based on an average of four factors in each county compared to the state as a whole: the percentage of vehicle miles traveled, population, state highway mileage and improvement funding history.
Greater Morgantown MPO Director Chet Parsons questioned what that estimate means for the MPO’s 2030 transportation plan, established in December 2006.
“I think your plan is still a valid plan,” Watson said. “You did it based on the best information you had at the time.”
Watson emphasized that the figures are only estimates created for planning purposes. The actual amount of money available may increase or decrease.
Service fee discussion
Later in the meeting, Kennedy provided MPO members with a list of suggested projects for the county’s service fee proposal.
The $2-a-week fee would be deducted from the paychecks of people employed in Monongalia County — full time, part time or self-employed — regardless of which county they reside in. The fee would be used to finance about $150 million in road construction projects during the next 30 years.
The county commission must approve the service fee proposal by Sept. 26 for a special election to be held on the suggested date of Jan. 26. Commissioners must first approve the project list, which will be considered at a meeting today.
Kennedy asked MPO members to provide input by ranking the 15 suggested projects. “I’m trying to get a feeling of what everybody thinks of the list of projects.”
Kennedy said he would like to alter the current list to include a W.Va. 705 connector — sometimes referred to as the “Pastureland Parkway” — that would link Stewartstown Road to Monongalia County 857. Parsons has said that road was left out of the proposal due to extremely high cost estimates.
Citizens Advisory Committee member Bill Rice said the 705 connector could make or break the service-fee proposal at the polls.
“Nothing matters unless it gets approved,” Rice said. “Without the Pastureland Parkway, in my opinion you’ve removed 25 [percent] of the ‘yes’ voters.”
Morgantown Planning Director Chris Fletcher noted that many of the people at Tuesday’s meeting have worked to resolve infrastructure issues for the past two years.
“We’ve got some very important issues to deal with regarding roadway improvement and expansion and the money’s not there,” Fletcher said. “Whether we support or don’t support the service fee , it is a critical component for us to realize, in short order, improvements to our infrastructure.”
Citizens Advisory Committee member Tom Cyphert expressed his frustration about audience response at a public forum, sponsored by The Dominion Post last week, to educate county residents about the service-fee proposal.
“Nobody in that audience was listening,” Cyphert said. “All we heard was, ‘You’re taxing me. You’re killing me.’ The only other alternative is, the state has to raise taxes.”
Williams asked Kennedy to postpone commission approval of the project list pending the results of a traffic study. Williams wants a highway along Falling Run Road added to the project list. Parsons has estimated that project will cost $85 million-$90 million.
Kennedy said that project is still being considered, but it won’t likely be funded with revenue from the service fee . Kennedy and Parsons said the project could perhaps be funded later with money from the state.
“It’s a house of cards,” Williams said. “If we don’t do it now, this road’s not going to be built, in my opinion.”