DALLAS – Pennsylvania road revenues over the next 12 years will be at least $6 billion less it needs to complete the 2,800 projects in the state's long-range plan, state Transportation Secretary Leslie Richards said Tuesday.
Richards told the state Senate Transportation Committee that revenues dedicated to transportation over the next 12 years will total $28 billion, not enough to fund all the $34 billion of projects promised when Pennsylvania overhauled its road and rail funding system in 2013.
Richards, who was appointed to head the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation last year by Gov. Tom Wolf, attributed the anticipated shortfall on inflated promises from former Gov. Tom Corbett's administration.
"The Corbett administration over-promised projects by at least $6 billion compared to projections of available revenue the next 12 years following Act 89," Richards said. "Absent a legislative solution, a number of these projects may not advance in the next 12 years."
Act 89, the transportation funding law passed in November 2013, eliminated the state's fuel tax of 12 cents per gallon and rolled it into the oil company franchise tax, which is levied at the wholesale level. Pennsylvania's taxes and fees on motor fuels currently total 50 cents per gallon of gasoline and 65 cents of diesel.
A fact sheet on the revised funding system said it would generate $2.4 billion through fiscal 2018, with $1.3 billion allocated to state road and bridges, $500 million for public transit, $237 million for city and county roads, and $86 million for Pennsylvania Turnpike expansion projects.
The latest 12-year state highway plan was adopted by the State Transportation Commission in August 2014, shortly before Wolf, a Democrat, unseated Corbett, a Republican. Richards, the first woman to head PennDOT, was appointed as transportation secretary in January 2015.
Several lawmakers have complained about the lack of projects included in a list of promised efforts put out by Corbett when the General Assembly was considering Act 89, Richards said.
"Some members are concerned that projects they believed to be fully funded prior to Gov. Wolf's taking office last year, in fact, are not funded," she said. "Gov. Wolf and I are moving projects you and your constituents expect, within the resources we are given. But there are challenges."
Part of the shortfall is the result of the diversion of revenues from the Motor License Fund to law enforcement, she said.
"Funds needed to support the State Police mission to keep our transportation network safe are competing with the vast demand for projects, and this means some tough decisions are ahead," Richards said.
"The number one issue we have today is unfunded committed projects," she said. "Available revenue is the unavoidable factor that underwrites how far we can advance on pending projects."
Steve Miskin, a spokesman for the House Republican majority, dismissed Richards' concerns.
"It's just the stereotypical Democratic response of 'we want more money,' " he said.
Republicans hold a 120-83 majority in the state House and a 31-19 edge in the Senate.
The revenues provided by Act 89 have contributed to the completion of $2.3 billion of work so far and provided funding for 559 projects currently under way, Richards said. PennDOT will let contracts on 750 road and bridge projects in 2016 from its construction budget of $2.5 billion.
