TULSA
– With federal highway funds dwindling under this recession, the
Oklahoma road-funding coalition TRUST will focus on securing that vital
revenue stream in 2010 – with former Gov. Frank Keating taking point.
Keating
will volunteer his time to the Transportation Revenues Used Strictly
for Transportation interest group while serving as president of the
American Council of Life Insurers in Washington, D.C. He intends to
relinquish both positions and move back to Oklahoma later next year.
In
a press conference Thursday morning at the Tulsa Press Club, TRUST
President Neil McCaleb said federal fuel tax collections entered a slow
decline in September, reflecting reduced consumer driving and use of
more fuel-efficient vehicles. Those recessionary trends siphoned off
$22 million in monthly federal tax revenue earmarked to Oklahoma
transportation infrastructure, according to the state Department of
Transportation.
At the same time, McCaleb said debate over health
care reform, stimulus efforts and other federal programs have
distracted President Barack Obama’s administration and Congress from
addressing critical transportation needs and approving vital
appropriations. Last month Oklahoma’s senior U.S. senator, Jim Inhofe,
said federal inaction could cost the state $30 million in lost funding.
With
Oklahoma’s eight-year construction work plan reduced by $480 million
due to declining federal revenues, McCaleb said TRUST will redirect its
2010 efforts on Washington while seeking to maintain state budget
funding levels during the upcoming legislative session.
The state must spend $196 million or more on roads and bridges or face federal penalties under the stimulus package.
Keating
achieved a strong transportation record through his two terms as
governor, helping secure more than $800 million in infrastructure
growth. Since 2003 he has led the ACLI.
Albert C. “Kell” Kelly
Jr., chief executive of SpiritBank and the co-chairman of TRUST, said
maintaining and improving the road system represents a key factor in
Oklahoma’s economic development. The coalition of more than 120
transportation-minded organizations intends to launch a public
relations campaign in 2010 to generate grass-roots support.
“So goes the roads, so goes the economy,” said Keating, who will replace Tom Love as co-chairman of TRUST.
The
chief executive of Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores has served in
that role since TRUST’s 2005 founding. Love will now take the chairman
emeritus post.
McCaleb, who once headed Oklahoma’s Transportation
Department and Turnpike Authority, admitted there was no easy solution
to the federal funding shortfall. Neither increased fuel taxes nor
higher road use taxes draw support among lawmakers.
“The current
inaction of Congress in renewing federal highway funding is costing our
state millions,” he said. “And the reality is the federal fuel tax
simply is not sufficient to maintain our state’s roads and bridges. We
are going to have to be innovative, think outside the box and put all
possible alternative funding methods on the table.”
Over the last
two decades Oklahoma has managed to improve its position as a “donor”
state. But while it no longer receives just 81 percent of the federal
fuel taxes it collected, McCaleb said today’s parity position
represents specially funded programs, not changes to the disbursement
formula.
“We want to get on formula at parity,” he said.
The state also continues to divert about 36 percent of highway taxes into other general revenue areas, such as education.
“We’re not going to get into that this year,” said Kelly. “Really, the fight right now is with Governor Keating in Washington.”
On the Web
RestoreTRUST.org