ROADS: Keeping up with the costs

In the last 16 years, cities, counties and highway districts have experienced increased costs necessary to maintain our roads. Unfortunately for the property owner there has been no action at the state level to properly adjust transportation user based fees since 1996. This has caused the costs to be incrementally shifted to property owners. For instance, property taxes within Lakes Highway District now account for more than 70 percent of our revenue versus 46 percent in 1996. I would expect to see similar results from other organizations.

Material costs for asphalt — oils and fuel for maintenance equipment — have increased 300 percent and 500 percent, respectively, since 1996. With this in consideration, local transportation officials are again continually faced with trying to preserve our aging pavements in good condition so we can avoid having to replace our road infrastructure given an unimaginable cost of replacement ($600,000 to $1,000,000 per centerline mile of road).

With the lack of user based fee increases at the state level (fuel tax), we cannot continue to demand more from the property owner. Our constituents are saying they are “tapped out” and feel those who use the roads should pay for them.

What needs to be done is for our state legislators to recognize the condition of our transportation funding system and help make the necessary adjustment that will shift funding back toward a user-based revenue system. This will ultimately shift the burden away from the property owner.

MARV LEKSTRUM

Coeur d’Alene