Funding formula change might delay road work for Southeastern N.C. (Wilmington Star News)
Local transportation planners oppose changes to state equity formula
By Patrick Gannon
[email protected]
Published: Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.
Proposed changes to the state’s transportation-funding formula might jeopardize new road projects on the coast, while benefitting larger metropolitan areas such as Charlotte and Raleigh, Wilmington-area transportation officials say.
On Tuesday, the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Transportation will hold a public hearing in Raleigh on whether the state should change the “equity formula,” which determines how most road dollars are allocated across the state.
“I am absolutely and unconditionally and 100 percent absolutely opposed to any changes,” said state Rep. Danny McComas, R-New Hanover, who sits on the oversight committee.
The proposed changes are being driven by larger cities, which would benefit if the formula is changed to focus on population numbers alone. Currently, the formula, created in 1989, allocates money based on population and unfinished intrastate road miles in the state’s transportation divisions.
Smaller cities and rural areas are fighting back.
“We oppose any change to that formula,” said Mike Kozlosky, executive director of the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization, who plans to address the committee on Tuesday during its meeting in Raleigh.
Officials said the amount of funding Division 3, which includes six Southeastern North Carolina counties, would lose depends on how the formula is modified.
But McComas said the northernmost section of the Brunswick leg of the U.S. 17 Wilmington Bypass, the extension of Military Cutoff Road and the extension of Independence Boulevard could all be pushed back.
“We’ve got numerous projects in our community that could very well be in jeopardy,” McComas said.
Allen Pope, division engineer for Division 3, said the current equity formula has served the state well since 1989.
“The big issue is there’s not enough dollars to meet the needs that we have (statewide),” Pope said.
Kozlosky said he plans to urge the committee to recommend new funding sources for transportation, rather than squabbling over the distribution method.
McComas said Southeastern North Carolina has been waiting for funding while major roads have been built in other parts of the state. Changing the formula now could divert money destined for the Wilmington area to more populated areas.
“Now that it’s our turn, we cannot afford to be shortchanged,” McComas said.
The committee will make recommendations to the General Assembly about the equity formula and other transportation issues. Legislators could consider equity formula changes in this year’s legislative short session, which begins in mid-May, McComas said.
Division 3 does receive more road dollars per capita than the state average. But local transportation leaders say that calculation doesn’t include public transportation or airport funding, and that the larger cities receive much more of that.
Patrick Gannon: 343-2328
