My Point of View by Peggy Bennett

Consider this scenario: I build a new house and have budgeted carefully so I will have enough money for the year-to-year upkeep of my house. A number of years later, I decide I want to add on a three-season porch.

However, I know if I spend the money on a new porch I will not have enough money in my budget for the shingle replacement my house will need in five years. I really want that porch, though, so I go ahead and build it anyway.

Later, I also add on the gazebo and swimming pool I’ve always wanted. Unfortunately, the extra expense means I won’t have the money to replace the aging plumbing, nor will I have enough to re-stain the siding when the time comes. Years later, I’m in a real pickle. My house is falling apart and I don’t have the money to fix it.

Now consider our state transportation system. We are in a similar pickle. Many of our roads and bridges are aging, and we don’t have the money to take care of them.

According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, half of our roads and bridges in Minnesota are now more than 50 years old. They estimate that 20 percent of our highways have three years or less life remaining. In Freeborn County itself, we have roads that local businesses are crying out to be fixed because they do damage to their trucks.

Part of the problem is transportation revenue. We need to make sure that all of the money designated for transportation stays in transportation. We are also getting less revenue because we have more fuel efficient cars. In addition, the cost of construction goes up every year due to inflation. Because of these things, we need to make sure we are spending our transportation money wisely.

A just as important culprit to Minnesota’s transportation funding conundrum is the addition of more and more extras to our transportation budget. We have gone from funding core infrastructure like roads and bridges (the “house” in the scenario above) to adding on many extra projects such as metro transit bus, light rail, bike paths and more. We have also moved from spending bonding money on critical things such as infrastructure to more aesthetic items such as sculpture gardens, TV station lobbies and theaters.

It’s time for some real reform for transportation spending. We, as legislators, must start prioritizing needs over wants and begin taking care of our infrastructure and other important Minnesota priorities adequately. This doesn’t mean we need to tax more. It means we need to prioritize spending – just like home owners do.

We could begin by placing a moratorium on all future light rail projects, which come with very expensive price tags — approximately $10 million to construct one mile of road verses $100 million to construct one mile of light rail (quote from a Steele County transportation meeting I attended in September) — not to mention the ongoing operational costs every year to maintain it and subsidize the ticket prices. Study light rail’s impact adequately before deciding to move on with it.

We can also start by making common-sense decisions about the spending of our bonding money. It seems to me that bonding has become more of a Santa Claus gift for politicians to give their districts during an election year rather than the meat-and-potatoes tool to fund important state projects like it was meant to be. Only 10 percent of our 2014 bonding money was spent on transportation.

It is my desire as a legislator to help bring some real, common-sense reform to government programs like transportation. We need to stop the blame games and political posturing and start getting to work to find some real solutions. It’s time to put Minnesota government on the road to real reform.

 

Albert Lea resident Peggy Bennett is a first-grade teacher and the state representative-elect for House District 27A. She is a member of the Freeborn County Republican Party.