LAKE COUNTY >> Cheaper gas and more efficient vehicles have made things a little easier on the wallet for California’s drivers. However, the same free fall that benefits consumers created a nightmare for state’s massive transportation network as funding for infrastructure maintenance and improvements for local roads, bridges and highways is directly affected by the price of gas.
According to Lake County Area Planning Council (APC) Program Manager Nephele Barrett, 40 percent of roadwork proposals submitted to the state will have to be withdrawn or cut back severely.
“I have been with the APC for 15 years, and I can definitely say this is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” Barrett said.
Two projects have been placed in doubt. The the extension of Dam Road to Phillips Avenue in Clearlake and the improvement of the S. Main St. in Lakeport took $358,000 from the Regional Transportation Improvement Program, well below the $1.7 million target recommendation received from the state’s transportation commission.
“For the first time ever, we are looking at deleting projects in our STIP,” Barrett said.
The State Transportation Improvement Program — STIP — reported a $750 million deficit in the five-year fund estimate it released in January. Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent budget proposal for the state’s transportation agency reported an approximate $6 billion annual funding gap over the next ten years. All of this comes at a time when transportation infrastructure across the state is in dire need of repair and upgrades.
As a result, the California Transportation Comission (CTC) asked the APC to “deprogram,” or halt projects in its 2016 improvement program.
But the situation may not be that dire, APC Executive Director Lisa Davey-Bates stressed.
According to her, state officials are aware that Lake County and other rural regions may not be able to delete projects.
This makes APC leadership optimistic that Sacramento may accept small changes to their proposals, turning to more affluent governments to balance the deficit
“Hopefully, they’ll look to the larger urban areas,” Davey-Bates said. “We know there’s a figure out there and this is the best we can do.”
Staff reports indicate that these projects were already delayed under the suggestion of the CTC because its previous Fund Estimate in August did not find money available for new projects.
“The state has messed us around with the funding,” supervisor Jeff Smith said. “It’s unbelievable.”
The regional program was unanimously approved. Yet without assistance from Sacramento, projects could remain indefinitely dormant until gas taxes flow into state coffers. Gas prices are projected to remain low for the near future, however, as global oil markets have seen an enormous increase in supply, driving prices below $30 a barrel at the beginning of the week.
The only way to realize full funding for future infrastructure projects, the documents stressed, is to receive a boost from the state.
The other remaining projects, most notably the widening of Highway 29 and the S. Main St./Soda Bay Rd. corridor, may meet the CTC’s allocation priorities but their future is also unclear.
“If we don’t find an infusion, it could be till at least 2020 before we see any money,” Davey-Bates said. “Without any solution, it’s just going to get worse.”
Help may be found in the governor’s proposed budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. If approved by the California Legislature, it will cover a $6 billion a year funding gap for the state’s transportation agency by raising gas taxes, cost-cutting and streamlining CalTrans projects.
But state action, which the council officially supported in letters to Senator Mike McGuire, Assemblyman Bill Dodd, and Assemblyman Jim Wood, may not make much of an impact on increasing cash flow.
“Even by doing that, we wouldn’t have any new money until at least until 2018,” Davey-Bates said. “We just may not see cuts.”
Uncertainty is also felt by the CalTrans teams that work on the county’s highways.
According to Public Information Officer Phil Frisbie, his district is not sure how much impact the decrease in gas tax revenues will have on future projects or the 20 current “major projects” that are in various stages.
“We know that something’s going to be cut, but we don’t know what,” Frisbie said. “The CTC has not told us how it will affect our districts.”
One thing is for sure: low gas prices aren’t helping everybody, especially rural areas like Lake County.
The California State Association of Counties projects that it will lose approximately $323,000 in price-based fuel excise tax revenues, currently at 12 cents and it projected to drop down to ten by the next fiscal year. That doesn’t include the losses from the flat 18-cent excise taxes that are caused by the influx of fuel-efficient and electric vehicles.
“We all love the $2.50 gas,” Davey-Bates said. “But it puts a huge burden on transportation funding.”
Until the state has funding once again, Director Gina Fortino-Dickson said that the county must help itself to improve the transportation, but that would require a hike in local taxes, something Lake County taxpayers are historically against.
“We have to find the means the means within our own community to handle these problems,” Fortino Dickson said.
She believed the public is aware of the issue’s severity and because of that they are likely to be more supportive.
“This time we have really isolated the roads issue,” she added. “It’s really driven home that now, more than ever communities need to take care of themselves.”
