 The Director of the EDC Department of Transportation, Rafael Martinez, spoke to us about the amount of infrastructure his department manages and about efforts to obtain adequate funding to maintain the roads. Rafael was accompanied by Brian Mullens and Andy Field. Rafael mentioned that he is in about the 15th generation of directors since Art Cort was in charge. Rafael provided us with many facts and figures on the quantity of infrastructure his department manages, including 1,082 center-line miles of roadway and 2,864 lane miles valued at $1.8 billion to replace, with only $9.4M per year going to roadway repairs. The department has 63 employees, 43 on the Western Slope to maintain the infrastructure. There is really a huge need to clear brush/trees near the roads and to improve ditching to prevent issues similar to what occurred during the Camp Fire. On the funding side, revenues from the Original Gas Tax have declined from $9.1M in 2012 to $6.2M in 2018 due to increased efficiency of cars and more electric cars. The DOT has had a budget deficit of $2M since 2008 and next year it is expected to be $3.1M. EDC is not receiving much from the SB1 Gas Tax since we don't have a county-level sales tax targeted at road maintenance, which would classify us as a Self Help county. There is a proposal to institute a 1/2 percent sales tax which would generate $8M per year for road maintenance only. The proposal includes safeguards to ensure that the money is only spent on roads within EDC: 1) there would be a Citizen Oversight Committee to oversee and audit the program; 2) there would be a sunset clause in effect; and 3) the money would NOT be used for pension overages or salary increases. The county would then be qualified as a Self Help county and would receive an additional $400K from the State and could apply for up to $200M in Grant Funding. |
