Special to KRTN
Hopeful Latest Windfall Projection Moves to More Road Improvements & Transportation Infrastructure
· State Senators Stuart Ingle, Ron Griggs and Pat Woods Comment on Bonanza
Santa Fe–New Mexico public coffers are expected to receive another financial windfall again next year. Another potential bonanza could once again benefit transportation needs in the state. That is just some of the news that came out of an interim transportation committee this week. If oil and gas prices do not fluctuate greatly, the state could receive another $1.1 to $1.3 billion in additional tax dollars next year, or even more. The investment into road infrastructure this year is totaling $400 million in one-time, non- recurring funds; and $75 million in recurring monies.
State Senator Ron Griggs (R-Alamogordo) who is a member of the Transportation Infrastructure Revenue Sub-committee said the state needs to continue to be grateful to the oil and gas industry and he said he is hopeful road infrastructure in the state will continue to receive a sizeable share of any new money next year.
“While this information is great news for transportation infrastructure funding, our committee members were warned that with so much additional money to be invested in the state’s infrastructure needs, large contractors who are already busy with construction projects, could likely increase their bids for additional projects, potentially making road construction more expensive than it already is,” Senator Griggs said.
Senator Pat Woods (R-Broadview) said this could be the time to attract New Mexico contractors back to the state, back to Eastern New Mexico.
“A goal of the committee is to try to attract back to the state the smaller contractors who tend to hire local talent. Many have had to leave New Mexico searching for out-of-state work when they could not bid on large projects due to their limited bonding capacity. We want them back. We want them back in the state building roads and bridges. Additional investment dollars could lure them back,” Senator Woods said.
The New Mexico Legislative Council created the Transportation Infrastructure Revenue Sub-committee earlier this year to develop recommendations to meet the needs of New Mexico’s businesses and residents for transportation and infrastructure and to identify current and new sources of revenue.
Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle who attended this week’s meeting said this transportation committee this interim will receive updates from local governments about their transportation infrastructure needs and current and planned projects and they will receive a briefing on the status of the efforts to repair the area affected by the sink hole in Carlsbad.
“All of this additional money could come with additional problems and the state needs to be watchful,” Senator Ingle said. “The money needs to be invested responsibly and projects need to be ready to go, so these investment dollars do not sit idle for years and years.”
Senator Griggs also said improving the state’s rest areas will also be discussed. “There is as much as $100 million dollars of needs to modernize our state’s rest areas. There is talk of offering internet connections and charging stations for electric cars at our rest areas that are very important to tourists coming to our state,” Senator Griggs said. “It looks like we have a lot to talk about.”
And as some motorists move away from gasoline and diesel vehicles, the committee members will examine revenue sources other than the gasoline tax to fix future roads. The gasoline tax is what the state has depended on to fund transportation infrastructure since 1992. The subcommittee proposed to review and discuss various additional topics during the interim, including:
· Leverage federal dollars for the state’s airports, which are the quickest form of transportation in cases of emergencies.
· Uber gross receipt tax issues when vehicles cross county lines
· The Volkswagen emissions settlement and the Environment Department spending of the settlement dollars.
