Nope, Scotty's not getting the highway bailout from DC that he wanted

[riversedge]

Thursday, August 31, 2017
Nope, Scotty's not getting the highway bailout from DC that he wanted

http://jakehasablog.blogspot.com/2017/08/nope-scottys-not-getting-highway.html

This got dumped out late this afternoon from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) has received $66.4 million in redistribution funds from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The redistribution dollars announced today by FHWA represent federal transportation improvement funds that were allocated, but not used by other state DOTs. The funds are not tied to any specific project and will greatly assist the Department in it’s efforts to improve the safety and quality of the roadways in Wisconsin.

Based on FHWA records, the $66.4 million is the highest amount ever received by Wisconsin. The previous highest amount received by WisDOT was $39, 472,925 received back in Federal FY 2014. “We could not be more pleased with this historic amount of funding that is being received,” stated WisDOT Secretary Dave Ross. “ I would like to thank the people at FHWA and the hard work that the team here at WisDOT have put in working together to arrive at this record level of funding.”

Sounds pretty good, as getting these redistribution dollars means Wisconsin doesn't have to use as many state dollars to pay for their many highway needs. But let's also remember that this is far less than what Governor Scott Walker was looking for when his administration sent in that request 2 months ago. Remember this memo?

In an analysis provided to this office, DOT officials indicate that the Department may submit a larger-than-typical request for redistribution funds, totalling $341 million, which they indicate could result in a larger amount of redistribution aid received by the state than in past years. If this amount were obtainable, a delay in the passage of the budget would likely limit the state's ability to obligate sufficient state funds to match this federal amount. However, any expectation of a significant increase to the state's share of this federal redistribution funding should be tempered by the following considerations: (a) in past years, regardless of the size of the state's redistribution request, the amount of aid received has been similar to the state's obligation authority as a percentage of the national total (on average, slightly less than 2% of the national total); and (b) the Department's potential $341 million request may include $211 million of project work related to the southeast Wisconsin freeway megaprojects, which would require a minimum state match of $52.8 million. This match would require $41.3 million more in state funding than is included under the Governor's 2017-18 recommendations for this program.

So we got less than 20% of what we requested, even with Paul Ryan and Scott Walker likely trying to kiss up to Donald Trump with the Foxconn deal. And yes, those two items could well be related, as added federal highway funding is a part of the Fox-con bill, as noted in this segment of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau's analysis. ...............................

[Wellstone ruled]

1. This is going to hurt big time.

The real question is,how much of these funds are going to get move to cover State Tax Collect losses.

[ewagner]

2. Couple of questions need to be answered....

The State receives a certain amount every years from this process...so how much did they estimate and what is the difference between the amount ESTIMATED in the budget and the amount of the ACTUAL appropriation?

Also: if the amount is greater than estimated, will they 1. Have an actual surplus or still have a deficit on all major projects including the FOXCOMM project?

If they have a surplus, will they divert the funds to local highway aides or "fast-track" other major projects?

Games will be played with the numbers...figures don't lie but liars can figure...