WYDOT: More than $72 million needed

By Ramsey Scott
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via Wyoming News Exchange
 
CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Department of Transportation is faced with more than $135 million in unfunded operating expenses, including more than $72 million in construction and maintenance.
But the most pressing issue could be funding a complete upgrade to its Revenue Information System, which houses information ranging from voter registration to driver records and license information.
In a presentation to the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Interim Committee on Monday, WYDOT laid out where the additional revenue was needed. That included an estimated $69 million in construction projects and almost $3.4 million in maintenance that currently isn’t funded.
In its report, WYDOT said the unmet needs have decreased its ability to maintain its mission, operating demands and assets in their current condition.
“With $69 million … unfunded at this point, it’s a significant amount of money we have to find or we’re going to see a deterioration of our roads,” said committee member Rep. Landon Brown, R-Chey-enne. “Unfortunately, it’s just one of those aspects of the state of Wyoming being complacent in the low tax structure we have and not being able to maintain the quality of life we have.”
Brown said when the state saw an influx of revenue from federal funds more than a decade ago, there wasn’t enough thought given to putting a way a significant portion of that to help the state during lean times.
“We got comfortable with having that kind of money, and when the bottom dropped out, we didn’t have enough money put aside,” Brown said.
While the unfunded construction and maintenance needs are significant, what might be more pressing is the need to fund a new Revenue Information System, which is on its last legs. That system is used by multiple agencies in the state and could lead to significant problems if it starts to fail, whether it’s when a police officer pulls a driver over and goes to check their information, or when someone heads to the polls to vote on Election Day.
In its presentation Mon-day, WYDOT estimated a new system could cost about $6.8 million per year over a 10-year period and be paid for with a combination of state funding, fee increases or vendor fees.
Another issue facing WYDOT, along with the rest of the country, is the potential that the federal High-way Trust Fund could go bankrupt by 2020 unless action is taken. That would mean a drastic hit to the WYDOT budget and would leave it to Wyoming to handle the shortfall.
WYDOT Director Bill Panos said Monday he was optimistic Congress would come up with a funding solution before the 2020 deadline. There was significant interest and pressure from states to find a solution, and he said Wyoming’s congressional delegation was one of many pushing to find a solution to the issue.
“I think that there’s a significant awareness of this issue in Congress, with not only our delegation, but the other members of the committees that are responsible for this. They are keenly aware of this issue and working hard every day with the states to come up with a solution,” Panos said. “My anticipation is that they will be able to figure all of this out, and we’ll be able to keep moving forward.”