The Committee of 100 | FYI Archives

Only in non-election years, such as this one, is there even a chance that the inadequate funding of the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) will be addressed. That is because tackling this issue requires making difficult choices, such as raising fees, tolls, and fuel taxes, and that won’t happen in an election year. No one wants fees, tolls, or taxes raised. Legislators know that well. However, without adequately funding the TTF, we will not have construction of key transportation projects which will allow economic development.

When the Transportation Trust Fund was established in 1987 to use transportation-related fees, tolls, and taxes to fund the construction and maintenance of Delaware’s transportation system, we understood that the fees, tolls, and taxes would have to be raised from time to time. We haven’t kept pace. Then, when Delaware faced financial difficulties in 1991, we “borrowed” from the TTF by “temporarily” moving DelDOT operations into the TTF. We followed that by moving the funding for other operations, such as the DMV, into the TTF. This practice, plus our failure to keep pace with needed fee, toll, and tax increases, has jeopardized the integrity of both the TTF and transportation funding in general.

Now we have over $1.5 billion dollars worth of projects (whittled down from last year’s $2.7 billion list) that need to be constructed in the next six years, and the TTF won’t have enough revenue for those projects. Plus, that $1.5 billion list of projects doesn’t even include everything that needs to be done now, such as the long-planned new I-95 Toll Plaza which would add high-speed EZ Pass lanes. Non-holiday winter weekend delays run 20 minutes and non-holiday summer weekend delays are now up to 40 minutes. As travelers from other states get bogged down on I-95, the primary message they take away from our State is not that Delaware would be a good place for business, but that Delaware is dysfunctional.

Governor Minner has included, in her 2008 Budget recommendation, a plan for a systemic correction to adequately fund the Transportation Trust Fund. She has proposed a motor fuel tax increase of $.05/gallon; documentation fee increase of 1.25%; elimination of the 10 p.m.-6 a.m. commercial EZ-Pass discount on I-95; elimination of all SR 1 EZ-Pass discounts; toll increase at Biddles/Dover of $1.00, Boyds/Denny of $.50, and Smyrna of $.25 in FY 09; and Vehicle Registration fee increase of 50%.

Others have recommended that part of the mix needs to include a plan for moving DelDOT operational expenses back into the General Fund so that the Transportation Trust Fund returns to its original purpose of providing revenue for capital transportation projects and system maintenance. There is general consensus that no one source of revenue will solve the problem. Adequate funding of the TTF will only come via a mix of increased revenue sources and the shifting of operations back into the General Fund.

AAA Mid-Atlantic, in its latest Public Opinion Poll of Motorists on Key Transportation Issues, reports that 69% of Delaware drivers say that traffic is getting worse. Delaware drivers cited aggressive drivers as the biggest danger they face on the road (48% vs. the next-highest danger of distracted drivers at 29%). The primary cause for aggressive driving is frustration with traffic, according to 48% of those polled (vs. only 12% for the next-highest cause, youth). Sixty-two percent said that they would be willing to increase DMV Fees “if the funds went solely toward transportation projects.”

Frustration with traffic causes far more than aggressive driving. Lack of adequate infrastructure impacts residents who face daily congestion as they commute to work, businesses determining whether or not to expand or locate in our State, tourists and visitors deciding whether or not they want to return after facing the challenge of Route 1 traffic near Rehoboth or the I-95 tolls.

Whether or not the Transportation Trust Fund gets the systemic correction to its revenue stream it so desperately needs this year will depend upon members of the General Assembly and on the Delaware business persons and residents who tell them that this is a priority.

NEW CASTLE COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT PLAN UPDATE

At its February 27th business meeting, the New Castle County Planning Board voted to concur with the Department of Land Use’s recommendation to approve Substitute 1 to Ordinance 06-140, including 82 recommended revisions to the 2007 Comprehensive Development Plan Update. Board member June MacArtor abstained because the Board was not allowed enough time to review the 82 proposed revisions.

At its March 5th New Castle County Council Land Use Committee meeting, Council members voted unanimously (with three absent) to request a delay in Council’s approval of the Comp Plan Update, giving itself an additional six months to approve the Plan. Council faced a March 31st deadline for approving the plan without an extension. Although the extension matches those granted Kent and Sussex Counties, several Council members expressed a strong desire to move toward approval of the Comp Plan within the next month or two. Members asked Department of Land Use General Manager Charles Baker to make the extension request to the Office of State Planning Coordination. The extension was granted on April 17 by the State Livable Delaware Committee.

The decision to extend the process followed Charles Baker’s presentation and explanation of the 82 proposed revisions to the draft Comp Plan. Council members wanted time to digest the revisions and to have specific questions answered. Charles Baker noted that the 82 amendments were based upon public comments from the time the draft Comp Plan Update was made public last November, as well as on a number of changes which the State demanded in return for its approval. Members asked for clarification on whether or not the revisions represented any policy changes, especially in requirements from the State. Council members raised a number of issues, ranging from the State Resource Area maps and accompanying State requirements to the fairness of holding up plans outside the Southern Sewer core area.

On April 23, Land Use Committee Co-Chairs David Tackett and Stephanie McClellan proposed an aggressive schedule for approving the Comp Plan. On April 24, Council’s Executive Committee met with Charles Baker to receive answers to its queries, including a set of questions formally submitted by President Paul Clark. Council members were given one week to submit proposed revisions before a Council Land Use Committee meeting on May 1 at which Council discussed proposed revisions. But the aggressive schedule, which called for Dave Tackett to lift the Comp Plan from the table on May 8 for Council’s consideration and adoption, fell apart as members of Council wanted more time.