Secretary Paul Mattox Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Could Highway Funding Fight Halt W.Va. Road Construction?

How does the fight over highway funding in Washington affect people living in rural West Virginia?

The PBS NewsHour recently traveled to Logan County to show how the funding fight could bring construction on a four-lane upgrade of W.Va. 10 to a halt.

It’s also become a political issue in the Third District Congressional Race, with Rep. Nick Rahall touting his seniority and ability to bring home highway funds, and challenger state Sen. Evan Jenkins vowing not to raise gas taxes to fund highways.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a short-term fix to replenish the Highway Trust Fund. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Here’s the transcript of the story:

JUDY WOODRUFF: The Federal Highway Trust Fund, which pays for the building and fixing of many of the roads and bridges in this country, is running out of money. Congress has only a few weeks to figure out how to keep it going. And if it doesn’t, it could cost thousands of jobs.

The NewsHour’s Quinn Bowman traveled to West Virginia, where he looked in on one project dependent on the funds, and he talked to West Virginians who could be affected.

GARY TAYLOR, President, Bizzack Construction: We’re in Logan, West Virginia. This construction project is part of the Route 10 relocation. It allows the traveling public to go from Man to Logan. Ten millions cubic yards of excavation and, contract-wise, it’s about $75 million.

QUINN BOWMAN: Gary Taylor’s company, Bizzack Construction, is part of the team turning this winding two-lane road into a new one double in size. Much of the money for this and projects like it nationwide comes from the Federal Highway Trust Fund.

It was created in 1956 to finance and maintain the federal highway system, and relies on a gasoline tax, now pegged at 18.4 cents a gallon. The revenue goes to reimburse states, which, in turn, pay companies like Bizzack for construction and maintenance. But the fund has been spending more than it takes in for years, as inflation eats away at the value of the tax and increased fuel-efficiency reduces gasoline usage.

The money will start to dry up in August, but Congress is deadlocked over what to do. Democrat Nick Rahall has represented West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District for 38 years.

REP. NICK RAHALL, D, W.Va.: I got first $50 million for Route 10. This is where you have loaded school buses playing chicken with coal trucks on a very windy segment of a highway hanging over a mountain, a disaster waiting to happen.

QUINN BOWMAN: He’s the top Democrat on the House Transportation Committee and a champion of saving the highway fund.

REP. NICK RAHALL: Should the unforeseen happen and I not be returned to Congress, the experience that I have gained in being the top Democrat now on the House Transportation and Infrastructure, that seniority doesn’t automatically transfer to a new guy.

I have been able to get these monies I mentioned earlier for transportation projects in Southern West Virginia regardless of which party controls the House of Representatives, regardless of which party controls the White House.

QUINN BOWMAN: Rahall wants to keep the program funded, but doesn’t support raising the federal gas tax and has not been specific about a solution.

For decades, longtime Senator Robert Byrd made sure West Virginia got its share and then some, delivering billions in earmarks to the state, where several roads bear his name. But the political tide has changed. Where Democrats once ran without challenge, Rahall is now viewed as one of the year’s most vulnerable incumbents.

His Republican challenger is Evan Jenkins, a state senator who recently abandoned the Democratic Party.

EVAN JENKINS, Republican House Candidate: We have got to be more efficient. I’m not for raising taxes. And, unfortunately, there is this Washington attitude of just bring in more money, spend more money, and maybe then we will get the job done. Well, that hasn’t worked. We have got a $17 trillion debt in this country.

QUINN BOWMAN: Jenkins thinks decreasing coal regulation could lead to more jobs and generate revenue for roads without any increase in the federal gas tax.

Indeed, most of this year’s Republican candidates have signed a pledge with Americans for Tax Reform not to raise taxes. Mattie Duppler works on transportation issues for the group.

MATTIE DUPPLER, Americans for Tax Reform: And that’s one of the problems with infrastructure, is that it makes a really good political point for lawmakers, standing in front of a bridge, standing in front of a highway. It’s really a great campaign stop for these folks. However, when that project ends, they struggle with the notion that the political capital then ends along with it.

QUINN BOWMAN: The Obama administration says that unless Congress finds more revenue, states will see a 28 percent reduction in federal highway money come August. It says that would put 700,000 construction jobs at risk.

President Obama has mocked lawmakers for leaving the highway fund hanging.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I haven’t heard of a good reason why they haven’t acted. It’s not like they have been busy with other stuff.

(LAUGHTER)

QUINN BOWMAN: As the debate continues, concern is rising among West Virginia’s political and business leaders, including Paul Mattox, the state’s secretary of transportation.

PAUL MATTOX, Secretary of Transportation, W. Va.: Well, the dysfunction that we are seeing in Washington, unfortunately, it is affecting West Virginia. I’ll tell you, as each day passes, I get more and more concerned.

I can’t see them letting the funding not be addressed, that they would not at least give an extension to keep the programs up and running. The consequences, I know here in West Virginia, we’re going to lose a lot of — the rest of the construction season possibly on some of our projects. And people are going to lose their jobs.

QUINN BOWMAN: Back at Bizzack Construction, Gary Taylor is hoping both sides will decide that keeping the money flowing is vital.

GARY TAYLOR: We’re the destination of Appalachian coal work that’s here. Good roads are very important. It’s the only hope that the people that live here have of having work and having industry come in.

MATTIE DUPPLER: Infrastructure really is the backbone of commerce in this country. It’s important. And conservatives do struggle with relaying that message, because the message is, that’s important, and because it’s important, we should be spending as well as we can on it, rather than just throwing dollars at a problem that is not going to make it go away.

QUINN BOWMAN: The House and Senate are preparing plans to move enough money into the fund to keep it solvent for a few months. A deal could be finalized as early as next week. Both sides agree that a long-term solution would be best, but, like a lot of things on Capitol Hill, neither side can agree on how to pay for it.

West Virginia Spent Extra $13.5 Million De-Icing Roads

West Virginia’s top transportation official says the state spent $13.5 million more than it expected to clear snowy, icy roads this winter.

But Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox says extra revenue from motorist taxes more than covered the pressing winter road needs.

Through April, state fuel and vehicle privilege taxes came in a combined $28.7 million higher than what the state projected. Registrations brought in an extra $2.6 million.

Mattox calls it a positive economic sign that people are out driving, buying gasoline and purchasing more cars.

Mattox said Monday that West Virginia spent $68.5 million total to remove snow and ice from roads this year. He says the spending helps control costs to fill potholes resulting from a particularly cold, snowy winter.

Charleston Businesses Take a Hit from The Chemical Leak, Wyoming Co.'s Own Water Woes, & More

Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox talks funding and construction for roads to the Senate Committee on Transportation, the Office of Legislative Information serves as a resource for legislators and the public, Charleston businesses take a hit from the chemical leak and water outage, and unrelated to the water crisis in Kanawha County and eight other counties, Wyoming County Schools have had unusable water since September.

Commission to recommend raising tolls, fees in lieu of raising taxes for roads

The Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways has spent the past year meeting with consultants, engineers and lobbyists as well as touring the state to hear from the public, in the hopes of finding new ways to fund state roads. Commissioners will send their recommendations to Governor Tomblin by the end of the month, claiming to have found more than $1 billion in new income and savings.

Through recommendations for new revenue, efficiencies and innovations, the commission’s final report is expected to come up with $1.1 billion of the $1.3 billion West Virginia would need to not only maintain, but also expand the state road system.

“The recommendations that we made don’t raise taxes at all,” said Jason Pizatella, Governor Tomblin’s deputy chief of staff, who serves as the commission’s chair.

But that doesn’t mean consumers won’t see any increases in what they’re paying now.

“Well, when I say taxes, I’m referring to the motor fuel excise tax. The gas tax,” Pizatella said. “The tax that everyone that came out to the public meetings complained about and said that they did not want to see increased.”

So instead, the commission is recommending an increase in DMV and motor vehicle licensing fees that will be adjusted every other year. The increases are expected to amount to $77 million in additional revenue for the road fund.

Next, commissioners recommend an annual registration fee on alternative fuel vehicles- namely vehicles that aren’t paying the gasoline tax when they fill up at the pump.

The proposed fee is $200 ever year for alternatively fueled vehicles and $100 for vehicles that use a combination of alternative fuels and gasoline or natural gas. The recommendation is expected to bring in a total of $1 million a year in revenue.

Another revenue sources includes reallocating money spent on car parts and services from the general revenue fund, where it goes now, to the road fund.

“Its $25 million estimated that the road fund doesn’t currently get,” Pizatella said, “and it’s the commission’s recommendation that those particular items like parts and batteries and services and tires that we use for our vehicles should go to the road fund.”

Moving those funds from the general revenue to the roads fund, however, would create a $25 million hole in state funding during an already pressing economic time. Of course, commissioners aren’t responsible for making a recommendation on how to fill that gap.

The commission hasn’t just focused on revenue, though. They’ve also looked for efficiencies within the state Division of Highways to save money.

Department of Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox, who oversees the DOH, brought forward five potential areas of future cost savings, including converting the fleet to natural gas vehicles and reducing middle management positions through retirements, but he said most of the cost savings in the department have already been realized. That resulted in millions moved from various parts of the department into the road fund.

“Being able to reallocate $180 million into our construction program within a budget that has pretty much been flat over the past decade has been quite an accomplishment,” Mattox told his fellow commissioners. “I don’t know if there’s any really large savings left within the agency that we could put towards the construction program.”

Pizatella said there are still some cost saving changes the department can make, they will just result in less of a revenue bump for the road fund than in the past.

Recommendations also include future studies on topics like using severance taxes from a possible Future Fund to pay for infrastructure, replacing the gasoline tax with a broad-based sales tax, and a possible federal sales tax on Internet purchases that will result in state money.

“One thing is not going to solve it, but I think it’s a combination of all the things that we heard hear (during the meeting), both innovations and efficiencies that will allow us to chart a path towards trying to make a dent in our needs for highway infrastructure,” Pizatella said.

“We cannot as West Virginians to pay more to solve a problem that did not occur overnight so it will not be solved overnight. So, it’s a step process. There’s no silver bullet, but we think it’s something that the legislature and the governor will be able to consider.”

At their next meeting, the commission will discuss an additional source of revenue, a phased increase of tolls on the state turnpike. The fee, however, would be frozen for five years for instate drivers using an E-Z Pass to pay their tolls.

That discussion is set for September 17th where the commission also plans to finalize their remaining recommendations. Pizatella expects to have the commission’s report to the governor by the end of the month.