State Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox made a pitch earlier this month for a $1 billion road bond. Certainly, the thought that languishing highway projects and unaddressed road needs could be funded is attractive.
Backers of the idea, including Senate Minority Leader Mike Hall, R-Putnam, think many West Virginians would welcome a way to address road problems.
Sen. Bob Beach, D-Monongalia, agrees: "Numerous Senate members have approached me expressing an interest in the legislation with hopes of having the issue on the ballot in the spring," he told Daily Mail Capitol Reporter Jared Hunt.
Maybe, but West Virginians are already are on the hook to fund billions of dollars worth of obligations.
n The state still owes half of the $550 million it borrowed with the 1996 road bond. Servicing that debt costs taxpayers $35 million a year, which will drop to $23 million in five years.
n The state's pension liabilities officially top $5 billion. For instance, losses on investments last year pushed the Teachers Retirement System fund from
being 50 percent funded to 42 percent funded as this fiscal year began.
n The finance board of the Public Employees Insurance Agency took action that cut the taxpayers' bill for Other Post Employment Benefits — mainly health benefits for retirees — from $10 billion to $5 billion.
But both the pension and OPEB funding plans will take 40 years to complete.
Given these existing obligations, some lawmakers are unsure about backing a road bond.
"We have to balance these things — our current debt versus additional bonding, which creates additional debt," said House Majority Leader Brent Boggs, D-Braxton.
Good roads are essential to developing the state's economy. Completion of the upgrading of U.S. 35 to an interstate-level four-lane highway should top any list of projects.
But persuading West Virginians to take on another billion-dollar obligation may be a tall order. Debt they've got.
State Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox made a pitch earlier this month for a $1 billion road bond. Certainly, the thought that languishing highway projects and unaddressed road needs could be funded is attractive.
Backers of the idea, including Senate Minority Leader Mike Hall, R-Putnam, think many West Virginians would welcome a way to address road problems.
Sen. Bob Beach, D-Monongalia, agrees: "Numerous Senate members have approached me expressing an interest in the legislation with hopes of having the issue on the ballot in the spring," he told Daily Mail Capitol Reporter Jared Hunt.
Maybe, but West Virginians are already are on the hook to fund billions of dollars worth of obligations.
n The state still owes half of the $550 million it borrowed with the 1996 road bond. Servicing that debt costs taxpayers $35 million a year, which will drop to $23 million in five years.
n The state's pension liabilities officially top $5 billion. For instance, losses on investments last year pushed the Teachers Retirement System fund from
being 50 percent funded to 42 percent funded as this fiscal year began.
n The finance board of the Public Employees Insurance Agency took action that cut the taxpayers' bill for Other Post Employment Benefits — mainly health benefits for retirees — from $10 billion to $5 billion.
But both the pension and OPEB funding plans will take 40 years to complete.
Given these existing obligations, some lawmakers are unsure about backing a road bond.
"We have to balance these things — our current debt versus additional bonding, which creates additional debt," said House Majority Leader Brent Boggs, D-Braxton.
Good roads are essential to developing the state's economy. Completion of the upgrading of U.S. 35 to an interstate-level four-lane highway should top any list of projects.
But persuading West Virginians to take on another billion-dollar obligation may be a tall order. Debt they've got.