Transportation panel to make proposals

State funds that Allegany County relied on for highways are no longer a sure thing
The Cumberland Times-News Thu Sep 29, 2011, 11:21 PM EDT

CUMBERLAND — The state commission charged with examining transportation funding wraps up its work next month and is required to issue a final report to Gov. Martin O’Malley and the Maryland General Assembly by Nov. 1.

Garrett County Administrator Monty Pagenhardt believes the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Maryland Transportation Funding, of which he is a member, can be a positive step forward to address funding issues plaguing the state and localities.

“I think the commission was appointed for a purpose. ... I am optimistic that the recommendations will be considered by the governor and General Assembly,” Pagenhardt said. He cautioned, though, that he doesn’t expect the changes to come quickly.

Among the important issues the commission is reviewing is a recommendation to put transportation funds, especially highway user funds, in something of a lock box.

The so-called Transportation Trust Fund is regularly raided to repair gaps in the budget, state Sen. George Edwards said. Those raids have amounted to about $2 billion over the past few years.

“That’s been a big part of the discussion. I am a representative of the rural counties and that has just crippled ... county transportation funding,” Pagenhardt said.

The Senate Budget Committee heard from the transportation commission as well. Edwards has said he would like to keep transportation funding where it belongs instead of continuing the practice of transfers into the state’s general fund.

“We need to stop robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Edwards said.

The highway user funds once were something Allegany County could count on for road repairs.

The county was estimated to receive $148,000 for fiscal 2012. That revenue used to be about $5 million, county officials have said. In 2007, the county share of the highway user revenue was $4.8 million; in 2008, $4.6 million. Garrett County, too, has taken a hit from the highway funding cuts. According to the draft fiscal 2012 budget, the county expects $161,500 in highway user revenue. That’s down from $221,370 in 2011 and $257,207 in 2010.

Another recommendation the commission will likely make involves allowing local governments to have the ability to raise their own funds, through taxes, to pay for transportation needs, possibly through a property tax surcharge, according to commission documents.

Pagenhardt doesn’t think Garrett County commissioners would be interested in that option.

Edwards recently said he hopes legislators will rebuild the state highway user funds, but he’s realistic.

“You’re not going to see it all at once,” he said. “There is not a whole lot of enthusiasm for tax increases,” even among Senate Democrats, Edwards said.

Changing the way the state funds mass transit is key to fixing the transportation budget, Edwards said. If you exclude the funds set aside for repairing toll roads and bridges, mass transit is the single largest portion of the transportation budget, eating up the money needed to repair roads and bridges, Edwards said.

Maryland, he said, is the only state he knows of that doesn’t use a local tax to help fund mass transit in the areas where it is heavily used.

The first step should be some sort of cap on mass transit funding, Edwards said. Those savings can then go into the trust fund.

Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com.

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