Highway Districts seek to address loss of Secure Rural Schools funding
The West Camas Transportation Planning Council hosted a meeting of area highway districts Saturday, Jan. 31 at the Cottonwood Community Hall.
There were about 65 people in attendance including the Idaho and Clearwater County Commissioners, Senator Sheryl Scott Carlton of U.S. Representative Raul Labrador's staff.Nuxoll and Representative Paul Shepherd from District 7 and Representative Dan Rudolph from District 6 and Scott Carlton from U.S. Representative Raul Labrador’s staff.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the loss of the Secure Rural Schools funds and the difficulties facing the highway districts and discuss possible solutions and alternate funding and options.
John Schumacher of the Greencreek Highway District, who chaired the meeting, started off by saying it means a loss of about half of the district’s revenue. He said with costs going up that paving and sealcoating projects as well as equipment purchases get put on the back burner and it would be tough to keep up with even routine maintenance to keeps the roads in the shape they are now. He could see a lot of the paved surfaces going back to gravel.
A handout showed the historical income from the SRS which was championed by former Senator Larry Craig, whose name was on the original bill along with Oregon Senator Wyden, shows Greencreek Highway District, just for example, dropping from the $181,000+ they received for 2104 to just $18,282 projected for 2015.
Carlton had some possible good new for the group stating that the first bill that will come out of the House Resource Committee in the 2015 Congressional Session will be the SRS. He said the House bill would be a stand-alone bill, instead of being attached to other legislation as past SRS funding has been. The Senate has a similar bill in the works which is looking at $250 million as opposed to the $300 million authorized in 2014. The House bill has not yet been finalized, so he did not have any specifics although there was talk of reauthorizing at close to current levels. Carlton said the Senate bill seeks a 2-year authorization.
If the Senate bill’s numbers are what wind up being authorized, 80% of current is much better than 10% of current.
Carlton urged those in attendance to send in your concerns. The more input they receive on such matters, the more attention it gets. Each district commissioner sending in a letter would be better than 1 from the district as a whole.
Several of those in attendance expressed concern about these 1 or even 2 year approaches as it is really tough to budget on possible 1 or 2 year money. Most of the districts said paving and sealcoating projects are usually a multi-year thing as it takes a few years of savings to get enough money built up to afford them.
There was a question about a request from the state for financial info. Idaho County Clerk Kathy Akkerman said there is legislation in place where all taxing districts are required to provide this info as well as a proof of audit. This can be done through the state Legislative Services Office website. Joe Forsmann, who is the clerk for several districts, said they will work with you.
Craig Duclos of Ferdinand Highway District said their district has 72 miles of road and 2 employees. Loss of SRS could lead to cutting employees back to part time, which could lead to them leaving for another job. He’s not seeing any other income streams coming up.
There was discussion about raising the fuel tax, which has not happened since 1996. Also there was some discussion about raising vehicle registrations. State Rep. Paul Shepherd was against raising registration fees while Schumacher was for raising them. Shepherd said the fuel tax is the most fair as you get taxed on what you use.
State Rep. Dan Rudolph said 1 cent of fuel tax increase raises an estimated $9 million state-wide. The problem is the state has an estimated $263 million backlog of highway and bridge projects yet to be funded. He also said the so-called sin taxes used to be a popular way to go but the last time a proposed raise was floated on those they had so many different agencies looking to tap into that money that the idea was scrapped.
Rudolph said to send in your stories to the legislature. If your financials make it look like you are a rich district because you have lots of money you’re saving for future project, tell them what it’s there for. 
State Senator Sheryl Nuxoll cited a poll that said 65% of respondents think the highways need help but were against raising fuel taxes.
Idaho County Commissioner Mark Frei asked what is survival mode. One response was “Get used to gravel.”
A member of the Idaho County Road District stated that reauthorization of the SRS is a break-even.
Nuxoll said a possible long-term solution is state control of what are currently federal lands. With state control they could be opened up and made into revenue generators much like the state’s school endowment properties currently are.
Jim Chmelik echoed that on making use of our natural resources. He said he would be willing to meet with each highway district or set more meetings like this one to go over what can be done.
As the meeting came to a close an informal poll of those present showed that most favored an increase in fuel taxes as opposed to vehicle registrations while many favored increases in both.

Approximately 65 area highway district and elected officials gathered Saturday, Jan. 31 at Cottonwood Community Hall to discuss the effect of and possible solutions to the loss of the Secure Rural Schools funding.

Cottonwood, Idaho 83522
 

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