Governor's race: Candidates diverge on transportation priorities (Wisconsin State Journal)

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By CLAY BARBOUR and MARY SPICUZZA

This is the first in an occassional series highlighting the positions of the three main candidates for governor on major issues facing Wisconsin.

Dangerous cracks discovered on a Milwaukee County bridge earlier this year have become battle lines in the governor's race as the candidates push competing visions of Wisconsin's transportation future.

State officials in March closed a major section of Highway 45 after discovering "dangerous deterioration" on a bridge that carries traffic through the Zoo Interchange, the state's busiest. It was the latest example of a growing problem across the state: Wisconsin's transportation system is aging.

Meanwhile, its funding system is routinely raided to pay for other programs and remains handcuffed to two limited revenue streams: motor fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees. The result is more problems than solutions.

Officials were able to reopen the bridge after a week, but the cracks revealed a deeper rift over the state's transportation priorities.

On one side is Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the Democratic candidate. Barrett favors a two-pronged approach that includes improving roads and incorporating passenger rail into the mix.

On the other side are the two leading Republicans: Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann. Both favor a concrete-and-asphalt approach focused on roads. And both promise to halt the construction of the federally funded passenger rail program from Madison to Milwaukee - despite the fact that the state may have spent as much as $100 million on the project by that time.

"The taxpayers want their transportation infrastructure dollars spent on the things that need fixing now, not at something that's a pipe dream for the future," Walker said.

Roads to the future

Four years ago a bipartisan legislative committee documented almost $700 million in annual unmet needs on Wisconsin's roads. Officials acknowledge the problems have only gotten worse for the state's 113,000 miles of roads and nearly 14,000 bridges.

Wisconsin funds its transportation system through motor fuel taxes and vehicle registrations, but revenues have not grown fast enough to offset increases in need.

Money from vehicle registrations increased about 5.9 percent per year over the past 15 years, a comparatively modest amount that was boosted recently by hikes in registration fees. Without fee increases every year, that revenue stream will likely continue to grow slowly, officials said.

The bigger problem, however, is the system's reliance on motor fuel taxes, which account for 60 percent of the money raised for transportation. Revenue from fuel taxes grew an average of less than 1 percent annually over the past five years, and actually decreased between 2007 and 2009.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin has in the past eight years raided its transportation fund for $1.3 billion to pay for other state programs. It has borrowed $1 billion to offset the loss, leaving a $300 million shortfall.

While that has eased problems in the short term, it means the state is using more of its transportation dollars to repay those loans. Of the $1.6 billion in the transportation fund in 2009, the state paid almost $191 million in debt, about twice the percentage it paid 15 years ago.

Candidates respond

All three gubernatorial candidates agree this approach is flawed.

Barrett said the only way to solve the problem is to stop raiding the transportation fund and start mixing passenger rail into the equation. Fewer cars, he said, means less wear and tear on state roads, and lower repair bills.

"We have to invest in our infrastructure in a balanced way," Barrett said. "And that includes high-speed rail."

Walker, who said roads and bridges will be his priority if elected, shares Barrett's opinion on taking money from the transportation fund for other purposes. But he goes a significant step further, saying he would support a constitutional amendment to stop future governors from raiding it.

Walker also said he would divert sales tax revenue from new cars into the transportation fund. That money - estimated to be about $516 million for 2011 - now goes into the general fund. Its removal could force cuts to other state programs.

Neumann also said he supports "walling off" the transportation fund and finding additional money to fix the state's infrastructure. And like Walker, he supports a constitutional amendment to protect the transportation fund.

Neumann also said he would divert sales taxes generated from other transportation-related items such as auto supplies - which now go to the general fund - into the transportation fund.

"This ... illustrates the concept of reallocating resources away from areas that are of less importance and into areas that are important in terms of restoring our economy," Neumann said.

Trains: Needed, or boondoggle?

But nothing divides the candidates like the $810 million federally funded passenger rail line that will run from Madison to Milwaukee.

Both Walker and Neumann say the rail line is a boondoggle, a waste of taxpayer money that will bring few jobs and rarely be used. Both said they would halt construction if elected.

Walker said he would either "send the money back to Washington" or push Congress to let the state use the rail funds for other transportation projects. The federal government has said the money can be spent only on rail projects.

Yet by the time the new governor takes office, the state will have already spent between $60 million and $100 million on contracts, designs, locomotives and rail cars. That does not include money spent by the four cities along the route on train stations.

If the state pulls out of the project, Wisconsin taxpayers could be on the hook for money already spent.

"You'd be laying off people who have jobs, you'd be ripping up tracks and throwing away millions of dollars of taxpayers' money that's been spent," Barrett said.

Barrett is an unabashed proponent of the rail line, saying it will be good for the state and popular with residents. He points to the steady growth of Amtrak's Hiawatha line between Chicago and Milwaukee, which has increased ridership substantially since its construction.

"Whenever we talk rail, you get this Armageddon argument, but when people get it and see the benefits, they like it," he said.

Neumann, who said he looks at everything through the eyes of a businessman, doesn't buy it. He said the federal government doesn't have the money to spend on the project, and he would do his best to "shut it down."

"I have been in a situation before where we've had a small fortune invested in a project, and it became apparent the project was going to be a drain on resources, as opposed to a good project," he said. "And we've had to do a very difficult thing. And that's turn and walk away."

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