HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0773.071 2008-2010Yoshimoto, J
From: Rob Tucker [castleb @aloha.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 12:21 PM
To: J Yoshimoto
RE(_.. kVC D
2010 MB? 4 NI 10 43
Subject: regarding Resolution 321 -10 COUit U hMR
COUNT ;. F HiAWAll
Road Safety, Fuel taxes and the Politics of Road Maintenance.
Page 1 of 3
PIFC
Resolution 321 -10 (Grant -in -Aid program for private road maintenance) is presently
before the County Finance Committee and it is a county wide issue. Ending fifty
years of county neglect is not going to be smooth and it is not going to be easy.
While the creation of an Ad -Hoc committee, which can work out the ways and
means of helping maintain miles and miles of substandard roads, is pending I
thought it time to discuss some real time aspects of the proposal. Some interesting
perspectives have been brought forth which are worthy of consideration.
This whole path has been a learning one. Very few citizens dig very deeply into the
collection, distribution and use of gasoline taxes. So as Friends of Puna's Future
(FoPF) has researched the subject there has been a learning curve. Interesting
things are discovered. I share some of them with you here.
On Road Safety:
A woman testified at committee with a compelling story. Her husband had been
electrocuted at home deep in Fern Acres or Fern Forest. Calling 911 she was told
that the ambulance could not handle the roads and she would have to transport
him herself for five miles to the ambulance. With him weighing over 200 pounds
some effort was required to find neighbors to assist in getting him into the car to get
to an ambulance. Needless to say a lot of time was lost and life was at risk simply
due to the poor condition of the roads. I am sure there are other compelling tales
to tell.
In the approaching Ad -Hoc Committee we, Friends of Puna's Future, will be
advocating that all roads in the county which are open to public use meet a simple
standard of allowing an ambulance to travel safely at 25 miles an hour. This is not
a high standard. It is not asking for streetlights, sidewalks, pavement or graveled
shoulders.
On Fuel taxes:
The husband and wife mentioned above have been paying fuel taxes as have each
Coma No. 173.7!
4/30/2010 Ref. To, ri pc-
Ref. Dore YH 19 2010
Page 2 of 3
of you that read this. Fuel taxes are not paid only when you drive on county
maintained roads. They are paid on every mile of every road you drive. So how
much you might or might not have paid for your house lot is really immaterial.
Fifty years ago our County Council saw fit to come to the aid of their large
landowner friends and let them off the hook. They were allowed to subdivide tens
of thousands of home lots without concern for those that would inevitably live there
some day. They were allowed to take the money and run. And they did. Since
that time our government has actually been doing the same thing. Taking the tax
money and running. The fuel taxes collected on 1,600 miles of county roads (pubic
and private) has only been allowed to be spent on 900 miles of publicly owned
roads. The 700 miles of privately owned roads are left to fend for themselves.
Some do better than others. Some are in absolutely horrible condition.
It was not such a big problem when the population was small. In the early decades
the people who lived in the most rough subdivisions did so pretty much by choice.
Many of the people who have moved in since have also been driven by need.
Housing costs in American rose well beyond a single family income. People
needed to find a place that they could afford... and the County of Hawaii along with
their large landowner friends had a place ready for them. They came and they are
still coming. And just like everyone else they have been paying road maintenance
taxes.
The Politics of Road Maintenance:
I had assumed that once the Fuel Tax Revenue (FTR) was collected that it simply
went into a road maintenance fund and was spent on the roads that needed the
most work first. An "as needed basis" is what I would call it. I was wrong. It turns
out that the FTR is received by the state and distributed to the County and then
disbursed on "a political basis ". Here's what that means....
Each district has a certain number of miles of public road ways. This does not
include, of course, the private subdivisions who we intend to help. Only publicly
owned roads are counted. So the money is divided up for each of the nine political
districts. At that point each district can look to it's worst road conditions and spend
the money there. It sounds okay and it sounds reasonably effective except when
you consider the disparities in the districts, their populations and the total miles
(public and private) they each have.
So no surprise that Hilo gets a big chunk. Hilo has after all spent fifty years
designing systems of funding that serve it nicely and disadvantage the outlaying
areas. So when Hilo takes road maintenance funds it finds it's worst road and
paves it again for the fourth or fifth time. And it will do this until the funds run out or
the time runs out. Believe it or not the CoH has trouble spending all the money it
gets.
4/30/2010
Page 3 of 3
Hilo, with almost 100% of it's roads publicly owned and maintained does very well
with this formula. We do not expect Hilo to be excited about changing the formula.
Puna has about 20% of it's roads publicly owned and maintained. The other 80%
have been left to flounder. It's not an accident. It was designed that
way. Resolution 321 -10 will change it a bit. Not change it totally, just bring some
help to a county created situation. This pattern repeats itself around the other
districts.
Meanwhile, back at the CoH Highway Fund, they have a problem with money.
There's a little too much. They just can't spend it fast enough to get rid of it. Every
year, for years and years, there's been about $2 million left over on each budget.
Money unspent. This year it is $1.8 million. So they "roll it over" into the next
budget. And they do it again the year after. When it truly gets embarrassing they
reallocate it. Put it to some other purpose. Mostly the General Fund. Anywhere it
seems but where it is actually needed the most. Where a woman needs to get her
critically injured husband to a hospital and needs to drive five miles to an
ambulance.
Please support Resolution 321 -10.
Rob Tucker, President
Friends of Puna's Future
www.fopf.org
965 -1555
4/30/2010