Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Office of the Secretary
10 Park Plaza,
Boston
Dear Secretary Davey and Members of the Board of Directors,
On behalf of the cities and towns of the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Municipal Association strongly urges you to amend the Administration’s Five-Year Transportation Capital Investment Plan to fund Chapter 90 at $300 million a year, indexed to grow with inflation. This is the minimum amount necessary to provide adequate investment and resources for local roads. Cities and towns across the Commonwealth face a massive funding gap to maintain and repair local roads, and your proposed allocation of a flat $200 million each year is insufficient to meet the needs of local citizens and taxpayers.
As you know, cities and towns are responsible for 30,000 miles of roads in the Commonwealth – approximately 90 percent of our state’s roadways – and communities depend on the Chapter 90 reimbursement program to maintain and repair their roads, making Chapter 90 a vital element in any transportation finance plan. The state created the Chapter 90 program in 1973 to share a portion of gas tax revenues with communities to ensure adequate resources for local road construction needs. But 40 years later, even at $200 million a year, funding for the Chapter 90 program is far short of the actual need, because construction costs have escalated sharply, in great part due to significant increases in the cost of fossil fuels, which drives up the price of construction materials such as asphalt and steel.
In December 2012, the MMA released a report documenting that cities and towns across the state face an annual transportation resource shortfall of $362 million, and need to spend $562 million every year to maintain municipal roadways in a state of good repair, the industry standard for ensuring well-maintained roads in good condition. (A copy of that report is attached to this letter.) To close a portion of this huge gap, the MMA and local officials from across Massachusetts have called for funding the Chapter 90 program at $300 million a year.
For many communities, Chapter 90 is the only source of funds for road maintenance. Under Proposition 2½, cities and towns are unable to increase the amount of local funds to supplement Chapter 90 unless they cut other important services such as public safety or education, or pass a tax override, increasing local reliance on the already overburdened property tax. The result is seen in potholes and crumbling roads across the state.
Over the past several years, the MMA and local leaders across the state have participated in a broad civic and business coalition to promote enhanced investment in local and state transportation needs. Municipal officials conducted forums, authored opinion pieces, met with editorial boards, and held breakfast meetings across the Commonwealth educating the public on the need for a solid, well-financed, multi-modal transportation system that will save taxpayers much more in the long run. We identified and highlighted studies that demonstrate that maintaining our infrastructure in good condition is up to 10 times less expensive than paying for the major repairs and reconstruction forced by neglect and poor upkeep.
Modern and well-maintained roads, bridges and transit systems are essential in order to attract and keep families and businesses in the state, foster economic development and investment in our communities, create jobs, ensure public safety, and build a higher quality of life for our residents.
The We Move Massachusetts outreach program conducted more than 100 interviews with various stakeholders, which, along with a companion survey, demonstrated that top leaders and the public believe that “maintaining existing roads, highways and bridges” should be one of the highest priorities for investment. The group’s conclusions are that “with regard to roadway improvements, there is a strong desire to see increased maintenance of existing infrastructure. Respondents pointed to poor road quality and potholes as important concerns.”
Initially, we were very much encouraged by “The Way Forward: A 21st Century Transportation Plan,” the framework offered by the Patrick Administration that would have set Chapter 90 funding at $300 million a year, indexed to inflation, for 10 years. We were further encouraged when the Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law the current fiscal 2014 Chapter 90 authorization of $300 million. However, we were extremely disappointed in the Administration’s decision to subsequently withhold $100 million from cities and towns, even though the Legislature’s transportation finance law clearly includes adequate revenues to support a $300 million Chapter 90 program – communities are dismayed that Chapter 90 is not receiving even one penny of the new transportation tax revenues.
In addition, increasing Chapter 90 to $300 million a year will yield immediate benefits and address a major goal of transportation reform: regional equity. The Chapter 90 program is the most effective and efficient way to ensure regional equity and regional access to increased transportation tax revenues. Cities and towns receive their funds through a tried-and-true formula that shares revenues in a fair way in every corner of the Commonwealth. Further, cities and towns face such a backlog of need that the increase would immediately result in visible and necessary construction and repair projects on local roads in every corner of Massachusetts.
The future of our Massachusetts economy depends on a solvent and modern transportation system, and Chapter 90 is a major part of that system. We ask you to amend the Five-Year Transportation Capital Investment Plan to provide an adequate level of investment in our vital system of municipal roads. Otherwise, taxpayers will be shortchanged and our economy will not grow at the rate necessary for Massachusetts to be competitive.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Geoffrey C. Beckwith
Executive Director, MMA