MN Transportation: There's Polls and There's Reality

Bob makes an excellent point, but I'd also like to address another. Mr. Westover expresses the viewpoint that a lot of conservatives want to make...that transit issues can be separated from roads and bridges. Transit is a "public good" as well. Rail and buses move workers to and from jobs. Rail and buses reduce the volume of traffic on our highways. Mass transit MUST be a part of the overall transportation plan because we simply do not have the physical capacity to keep expanding the highway system -- we are also finding the abilty to pay for maintenance increasingly difficult. The Federal government recognizes the benefits of light rail, because they will partner in the projects. We have to think of transportation as a host of options -- separating the parts and making them compete with each other is ultimately counterproductive.
 

Craig Westover's arguments are only legitimate if the capital expenditures for the items he listed even came close in cost to the money needed to improve our transportation system, which they absolutely do not. The costs of the items he mentioned, and any others for that matter, so pale in comparison to the funds needed for transportation in this state that the argument is not even worth considering. Go ahead, put those other supposedly unnecessary expenditures on the table and eliminate each and every one of them if you want and then put that money into the transportation pile, you won't even come close to the funding we need.

We need a sustainable source of funding that does not involve borrowing. The one and only way of doing that is through taxes.
 

You’re mixing up quite a few concepts here, but it’s worth trying to sort them out because there are many good points here – as well as many confused ones.

First, transportation is not a “collective need,” which is a political term; it is a “public good,” which is an operable economic term with a specific definition. A “public good” is something that benefits everyone and for which it is difficult if not impossible to assign specific costs to specific people. Roads are a public good in that even if I do not drive or do not drive on a specific road, I benefit in that everything in my home at one time or another was on a truck driving on a road. The road to my house is available if I need police, fire, or medical service. Taxing me (generally) for these services is legitimate.

Transit is not an economic “public good.” Its benefit is specifically to the people that ride it (and possible homes and business along the line). A truck heading to Duluth travels 94 through St. Paul, so the Duluth resident benefits from a St. Paul road, but a Duluth resident in no way benefits from the Central Corridor – yet we expect the Duluthian’s taxes to help pay for it. Transit should be self-supporting. A sales tax or gas tax money should not be used to pay for transit at the state level.

Gas taxes are an appropriate way to pay for road maintenance – e.g. resurfacing and the like. It is not an equitable way to finance new construction and reconstruction. The state obligation in that area should be funded through bonding or direct general revenue funding – roads are a public good.

The reason we have not spent on roads is not that funds aren’t available – it is that we have spent them on something else. The proposed tax increases might target transportation, but the NEED, if it exists, for those taxes results from spending on other, less urgent capital projects for political purposes. We’re looking to raise taxes not just because we didn’t build roads, but because we spent on tourist centers, the Guthrie Theater, moving the Schubert Theater, buildings at the University and state colleges, teaching Minnesota women to fish, and polar bear exhibits. That’s not to say that some of those projects weren’t necessary – many are. Moreover, we built a lot of unnecessary roads (especially in the 8th district where Oberstar secured federal money that required a state match to build roads not on the MNDOT priority list).

Before we raise taxes for transportation, let’s fix the process. Let’s put all capital expenditures on the table, including roads and bridges and transit projects, subject them to cost/benefit analysis, subject them to a legitimacy test (is this really a “public good” all taxpayers in the state should pay for?) and is the project really necessary of just nice to have. Duluthians might willing pay higher taxes for to move freight faster through the Twin Cities, but would they willing pay more taxes to build a Central Corridor or a polar bear exhibit at Como Park (The answer might be yes, if the state pays for their civic arena – but is that a state obligation?)


When we know how much the legitimate and necessary cost then we can talk about funding mechanisms – not before. Let’s fix the prioritization process before we throw more money at it.

 

Times are hard for working families. A recession is near. The legislature wants to raise our taxes to pay for roads and bridges. They say that a bonding bill will mortgage our children’s future yet both parties have no problem mortgaging their future for the following projects:



A hockey arena in Hallock;

· An orchestra hall for Minneapolis;

· Upgrades to the John Rose skating rink in Roseville;

· The “Prairie Ecology Center” in Jackson County;

· An ATV trail in Kittson County;

· The Thief River Falls multi-events complex;

· An ice arena for Crookston;

· A senior center in Mora;

· The Hinckley Fire Monument;

· Expansion of the Saint Cloud Civic Center;

· The Pine Grove Zoo in Little Falls;

· The Northwest Hennepin Family Center;

· The Austin Area Success Center;

· Improvement to the Duluth Convention Center;

· The Voyageurs Heritage Center;

· The Alden Community Center;

· The Blazing Star Bicycle Trail;

· A snowmaking machine for the Battle Creek Recreation Area;

· Heritage Village Park in Inver Grove Heights;

· The Mayo Civic Center;

· The Southern Minnesota Women’s Hockey Exposition Center;

· A community Center in Pemberton.



Families tighten their belts during tough times in order to pay for essential services. Isn’t it about time that our elected officials begin to do the same?



Bernie Bauhof

Andover MN