OK, we all know about Pennsylvania potholes. About old bridges with the structural soundness of something built with Tinker Toys. About plans to cure infrastructure ills by tolling up to nine state bridges, including Harrisburg’s I-83 South Bridge.
I’ve argued the biggest reason for this mess, for our roads and bridges consistently ranked among the nation’s worst, is our government’s consistent refusal to fix it.
But it’s shoddier than that. It’s deliberate misuse of funding to fix it.
A reader recently reminded me of the direct line between today’s infrastructure issues and the legislature’s annual habit of diverting funds reserved for highways and bridges away from highways and bridges.
Yep. Been doing it for years. Both parties. From Republican Gov. Tom Ridge to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. And we’re talking billions of dollars.
How’s it done? Every budget season, the legislature, with the governor’s approval, raids the state’s Motor License Fund (MLF) in order to feed the budget of the Pennsylvania State Police.
The license fund consists of revenue from our third-highest-in-the-nation gas tax, as well as license fees and other vehicle fees. For the fiscal year ending last July, the fund totaled $2.8 billion.
The state Constitution (Art. VIII, Sec. 11) says the fund shall be used “solely for construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of and safety on public highways and bridges.” Yet, hundreds of millions of dollars per year get transferred to the State Police.
Rep. Mike Carroll, D-Luzerne County, Democratic chairman of the House Transportation Committee, says that in the last six fiscal years the total amount of money moved away from highways and bridges is more than $4.5 billion.
Why is it done? “To prevent tax increases or unpopular budget cuts,” says Carroll, who candidly admits he, like most lawmakers, voted for it as part of the overall state budget. But, he says, “I call it `insincere budgeting.’”
Others call it unconstitutional. When I wrote about this topic four years ago, then-House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. John Taylor, R-Philadelphia, since retired, said, “It’s absolutely unconstitutional.”
(The semi-flimsy argument in support of the transfer is this: the Constitution mentions “safety;” the State Police patrol highways to provide safety; giving State Police the money is legal.)
Since 2016, when the legislature gave the State Police more than $800 million in motor fund money, there’s a slow, mandated decrease in allotments, a weening, if you will.
This year’s amount is $673.5 million. The annual amount is scheduled to drop to no more than $500 million by the 2027-28 fiscal year. But that means, between now and then, another $3.3 billion is scheduled to be shifted.
This is not about the State Police. It’s a critical force that should be fully funded. For one thing, it provides full-time police service to about 1,300 municipalities with no police departments.
But the state budgeting process isn’t honest. Or responsible. It’s a yearly flim-flam show of shifting money from one pot to another. It’s a misuse of tax dollars that leads to later grabbing for more tax dollars, in this case, via tolling.
The $4.5 billion the legislature, so far, stole from the Motor License Fund is likely enough to repair or replace all nine bridges now being considered for tolls. It’s a little more than the state share of new funds for roads and bridges ($4.2 billion) from the $1 trillion national infrastructure package signed into law last month.
So, lawmakers should either stop the steal, or further cap the amount of the steal, rather than ask taxpayers to continue to support a practice of theft.
When I ask Carroll about pulling the plug or lowering the number on the annual raid of the MLF, he says, “I’ll do my usual lobbying for it, but the chances of that happening are zero percent.”
A request to House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. Tim Hennessey, R-Chester County, for an interview or comment on the issue was, as of this writing, unanswered.
But Carroll is right. It’s all about saving the legislature from raising taxes or making budget cuts. And, I’d add, from anything approaching faithful and creative use of tax dollars.
He’s also right about chances for change. Why? Because…well, you know why.
John Baer may be reached at baer.columnist@gmail.com.
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