Pennsylvania legislators facing huge transportation funding gap
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HARRISBURG -- State legislators are facing a financial double whammy.
They must come up with nearly $500 million in additional funds to fix crumbling roads and bridges and keep buses and trolleys running, while also plugging a general fund deficit that's expected to exceed $1 billion.
Starting Tuesday, lawmakers will officially consider the huge transportation problem, as Gov. Ed Rendell opens a special session that will look at new taxes and fees, or eliminating unnecessary spending, to come up with funds for roads, bridges and transit.
The Legislature has to figure out how to fill a $472 million hole that was created a month ago when the federal government refused to allow the state to put tolls on Interstate 80. Mr. Rendell will get things started with an address at 1 p.m. to a joint session of the House and Senate.
"Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of structurally deficient bridges, with 5,646," the governor said. That is more than the deficient bridges in the New England states, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia combined.
In addition, there are 7,000 miles of roads that need to be fixed before more deterioration occurs and causes further damage to the cars and trucks of Pennsylvania drivers, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler said last week.
There is no deadline for the Legislature to fill the transportation gap -- a factor that could make progress very slow.
The other big fiscal headache -- the 2009-10 state budget deficit -- is supposed to be resolved by July 1, which marks the start of fiscal 2010-11. But the Legislature hasn't adopted a new budget on time in seven years, and the 2010-11 spending plan will probably be no exception.
A report due out today will highlight the financial difficulty facing the Legislature, as the deficit for fiscal 2009-10 is expected to make a major jump. It will rise from the March 31 estimate of $700 million to as much as $1.1 billion -- an increase of $400 million in red ink in one month. That would almost certainly force cuts in state services, affecting many human services programs run by counties.
The transportation problem was underlined in November 2006, when a special panel headed by Mr. Biehler recommended that the state spend an additional $1.7 billion a year on roads, bridges and transit.
First Published May 3, 2010 12:00 am
