Good intentions don’t build roads

By Bob Williams, Evergreen Freedom Foundation

Governor Locke has announced that the days of "creep-and-beep, crawl-and-stall" traffic are "on their way out." Pleasant words for those of us who spend hours every day staring at someone else’s bumper.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing new or innovative about the governor’s response to the problem: squeeze more money out of taxpayers. Locke’s Blue Ribbon Commission on improving traffic recently announced a proposal for eleven new tax and fee increases worth $11.5 billion.

It is estimated that these new taxes would cost the average person at least $355 a year. Some of the more absurd proposed fees, like a 2-cent-per-mile odometer charge for anyone driving in the Seattle area, could cost significantly more for long-distance commuters.

These guys just don’t get it. It’s only been a year since voters overwhelmingly approved I-695 with a loud and clear "We’re sick of throwing money at a broken system."

There are far more serious problems with the Department of Transportation (DOT) than funding, and no one should be talking about tax increases until these are addressed.

Right now Washington has more than 468 government entities with their fingers in transportation planning, funding, management, and construction. Is it any wonder there’s mass confusion? Unless a fundamental change is made and accountability and responsibility for various transportation needs are clearly defined, no amount of money will solve the problem.

The DOT doesn’t even have a clear mission statement. Without defining the department’s core purpose, it is impossible to accurately document and prioritize the state’s transportation needs. Should problems be taken care of at the state or local level? And where does new road construction fit into the DOT’s priorities? Considering only 70 new lane miles have been added to the state highway system in the last eleven years, while miles traveled increased by 21,619,000, the importance of new construction seems to fall somewhere below operating kiosks, rest areas, and 1-800 numbers.

The Blue Ribbon Commission ignored significant problems in the current budget process for state transportation functions. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has pointed out before that the Legislature’s budgeting for transportation is written in loose language, and that comprehensive detail behind legislative appropriations is lacking.

The Commission’s report calls for "tying transportation funding to performance" based on clear goals and benchmarks. Sounds great, but those good intentions won’t go anywhere unless they’re implemented. Besides, those same recommendations have been state law since 1996, as well as included in the governor’s budget instructions for the past few years. And still the DOT ignores them!

The Legislature should require the Office of Financial Management to provide quarterly reviews of transportation goals and reduce the allotment for any agency that fails to meet them.

Commissioners also ignored their responsibility to find savings opportunities before proposing across-the-board cuts in administration. Last January, Doug Biegle (Commission Chair) and Skip Rowley (Revenue Subcommittee Chair) stated that "the commission’s first task is to explore ideas for increasing efficiency and stretching dollars as far as possible. We’re looking at ways for government to streamline permitting processes, make smarter decisions, reduce maintenance costs, broaden contracting choices, and create an all-around simpler system."

None of those recommendations found their way into the Commission’s final report. Making cuts across-the-board without thorough review penalizes good managers and does nothing to reduce inefficiency in highly bureaucratic organizations.

In a November 30th press release on the Commission’s final report, Governor Locke said his immediate priorities include squeezing every drop of efficiency from the state’s existing system and maintaining it well. Again, it sounds great, but Locke has no constitutional or legal authority to carry it out. DOT reports to the Transportation Commission, not the governor. If Locke wants the authority, he needs to ask the legislature for it. The department also suffers from major internal problems and largely ignores demands from the governor, state auditor, and legislature.

No one should be discussing increased revenue or floating "trial balloon" tax proposals until the issues above have been addressed. Otherwise, no amount of revenue will satiate the DOT’s appetite; money will just keep pouring in (from taxpayers’ pockets) while we’re still "creeping and beeping" along.

Skip Rowley said it well, "Before I become the most hated person in Washington and Tim Eyman’s poster child, let me say that we can’t do any of these [tax increases] until we do things in a more efficient way."

Agreed. So let’s see some action.

Bob Williams is president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, an Olympia-based policy research organization. He can be reached at (360) 956-3482, or effwa@effwa.org.

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org