New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, Inc.

2011 Legislative Session Report

By Fred Hiffa and Megan Osika

End of Session Wrap Up

Last night the Senate and Assembly concluded the 2011 legislative session. The major issues addressed at the end of session were a property tax cap, rent regulation, SUNY2020, same sex marriage, mandate relief, and Title X power plant siting.

If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact Fred or Megan at (518) 436-6202 or the Association Office at (518) 694-9313. Below are updates on major legislation of interest:

Read more: 2011 Legislative Session Report

Highways Advocacy Day in the Press

Once again our Association gathered almost 600 highway superintendents and other professionals in partnership with the NYS County Highway Superintendents Association (NYSCHSA) last March. While we have been increasingly successful in communicating our message during Advocacy Day, this year saw another great step forward to being heard, not only by legislators, but by the public.

Three different camera crews interviewed some of our officers for television stations. NYSCHSA President Bill Dashnaw and NYSAOTSOH President Roger Wolfe were on Central New York radio. A few newspapers around the State also carried various aspects of our story. Here are a few of the stories in case you missed them!

The first aired on Channel 10 (ABC) early morning before the event:

http://www.wten.com/Global/category.asp?C=172705&clipId=5642747&topVideoCatNo=14990&autoStart=true

Board Members Bernie Meyer (Town of Canaan, Columbia County) and Rick Kukuk (Town of Clifton Park, Saratoga County) are both highlighted in this YNN clip:

http://capitalregion.ynn.com/content/top_stories/536028/highway-superintendents-meet-with-lawmakers-to-discuss-funding-for-road--bridge-projects/

Bill Dashnaw and Roger Wolf were both interviewed mid-day on a show called "The Capitol Pressroom" with interviewer Susan Arbetter which aired on public radio in Central New York:

http://thecapitolpressroom.org/the-capitol-pressroom-for-march-9-2011/

These reporters were there to help us by letting the public know that Local Roads are still severely underfunded even though no cuts were made in the State Budget this year.

Report Addresses Governor’s Call for Consolidation

In his State of the State speech yesterday, Governor Cuomo emphasized, "we must continue to rightsize our more than 10,500 local governments through consolidations, mergers and shared services." However, a report released last week by the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, Inc. (NYSAOTSOH) titled Delivering Highway Services at the Town Level in New York State: Home Rule Accountability for Effective Highway Maintenance on Neighborhood Roads and Streets challenged some of the Governor's solutions. (For full report, click here.)

The report was independently prepared and sent to leaders in both the Executive and Legislative branches. In response to Governor Cuomo's calls to consolidate local governments for assumed cost savings, NYSAOTSOH President Roger Wolfe of the Town of Yates, Orleans County declared, "[Our] members have worked closely with Village, City and County governments to achieve cost savings through cooperation and shared services. Doing more with less is nothing new for local governments. Many of our service agreements go back decades with more costs savings per mile than State operations. Our constituents know every dollar they pay in Town taxes stays in their community, directly providing the services they need - and every other November they tell us how well we are doing!"

Read more: Report Addresses Governor’s Call for Consolidation

Associations Testify that State's Plan Jeopardizes Local Roads and Bridges

Testimony submitted this week by NYSAOTSOH and NYSCHSA to the State Assembly Transportation Committee described the dire condition of the local transportation system and the need to make funding local roads and bridges a greater State priority.

Presenting testimony on behalf of the two statewide associations of public works commissioners and highway superintendents was Randy Gibbon, P.E., Co-Chairman of the Legislative Committee for the New York State County Highway Superintendents Association (NYSCHSA). He was joined by Roger W. Wolfe, President of the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways (NYSAOTSOH).

It was reported to the Assembly panel, chaired by Assemblyman David Gantt, that the twenty-year needs of the local system exceed both that of the MTA and State DOT. According to a recent study by the State Comptroller, local roads have a capital need of $175.2 billion. At the current funding levels, over $56 billion of this will go unfunded.

To drive this reality home, Gibbon and Wolfe reported that DOT just closed a State bridge on a town road in Wayne County. This bridge is a single lane truss typical of those that span the Erie Canal. Even though the bridge averages over 4,000 crossings per day, there is no plan to address the deficiencies to allow the bridge to be used while waiting for its replacement, scheduled for late 2012.

The highway chiefs predicted that this is not the first and unlikely to be the last of this type of incident. The closing of bridges now and then may appear to much of the general public as an isolated incident, particularly if the loss of a crossing does not directly impact them. But the deterioration that leads to such bridge closings is systemic. It is a reminder that current underinvestment makes it impossible to maintain even a 20th century transportation system, much less provide one that will allow us to be competitive in the current global economy.

The State's Five Year Capital Plan, developed by the State Department of Transportation, establishes a benchmark for funding transportation in New York at an absolute minimum level to maintain the current system. The funding levels for the Two Year Capital Plan approved by the State this year fell well below those prescribed by the Five Year Plan and further jeopardize the integrity of local roads and bridges, the superintendents warned.

Also alarming is the fact that 65% of revenues to the Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund (the primary mechanism for funding local road and bridge capital projects) goes to debt service, requiring State General Fund transfers of $700 million per year in order to keep the fund solvent.

Local Roads Matter! The highway groups hope that, partnering with the State and the public, New York can begin to rehabilitate and rebuild the local transportation system to where it once again can be a safe and efficient asset that helps to keep people, businesses and jobs in New York State.

A copy of the NYSCHSA and NYSAOTSOH joint testimony is available here.