DALLAS — Five local government associations sent letters last week to key Capitol Hill lawmakers seeking more federal funding for cities and counties in the next multi-year surface transportation infrastructure bills.
The groups, which included the National Association of Counties and the National League of Cities, said the recently extended Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) law that was enacted in 2012 cut local funding by 30% with its focus on maintenance of interstate highways.
Local governments and regional transportation planning organizations receive only 15% of federal transportation dollars despite their large inventory of infrastructure, the groups noted.
Counties, cities, and townships are responsible for 78% of the nation's road miles, 43% of the federal-aid highway system, and 50% of the bridge inventory, they said in their Oct. 23 letter to the chairmen and ranking minority members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The groups asked Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. and David Vitter, R-La., as well as Reps. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., and Nick J. Rahall III, D-W.Va., to "support an adequately funded, multi-year surface transportation reauthorization that addresses our nation's transportation infrastructure needs by directing a greater share of available funds to local governments and their regional agencies."
In a separate letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, the National Association of Counties urged Congress "not to wait but to act now" on a sustainable long-term revenue source for the Highway Trust Fund.
Lawmakers this summer extended the HTF's solvency through May 31, 2015 with a $10 billion transfer of general fund revenues. Since 2008, more than $60 billion has been transferred in to the highway fund because federal grants to states from the fund far exceeded revenues from the federal gasoline tax.
"For far too long, the Highway Trust Fund has been on a path toward insolvency," NACo said in its Oct. 21 letter. "The lack of long-term funding at the federal level has created uncertainty for counties, which inhibits their ability to plan and deliver projects."
Congress should not wait until the last minute to agree on new revenues, said Jessica Monahan, assistant legislative director for transportation at NACo.
"We'd love to see it done in the lame-duck session after the election," Monahan said. "We don't want to wait until May."
Delaying action to bolster the HTF into early 2015 would likely result in another series of short-term, last-minute extensions because new members of Congress will not be familiar with the issue, she said.
"We want this Congress to do its job," Monahan said. "They really need to get this done."
NACo supports an increased federal gasoline tax that is indexed to inflation as a funding solution until it can be replaced by something more viable as cars become even more fuel efficient and motorist drive fewer miles, she said.
"The gasoline tax has been a reliable funding method for years but we recognize that peoples' habits are changing," Monahan said. "If there are other realistic funding options, we wouldn't oppose them."