MILLIONS IN TAXES, BUT OUR TEETH STILL RATTLE

posted by Michael Chihak

Was your drive home from work today a jolting experience?

Do you wonder why nearly every street in town has speed bumps on it – most of them not on purpose?

Is the ride so rough you think that you’ve become your car’s shock absorbers?

Well, strap in and prepare for more. There’s little relief on the way in this season’s round of government budgeting.

The state is still diverting money from the primary fund set up to pay for highway building and street and road repairs.

The counties and the cities are still complaining that the state is diverting money they need to make fixes.

And we’re still bumping along, putting lots more wear and tear on ourselves and our vehicles than we ought to.

So why is it that we can’t get our streets and roads repaired in a timely manner and properly?

After all, as taxpayers, we put $1.2 billion into the state’s fund for such projects every year, from our gasoline taxes, commercial truck and fuel vendor taxes and what we pay to register and license our vehicles.

A billion two.

Nearly half of it goes to cities and counties – last fiscal year, they got $556 million. Of that, nearly $39 million went to Pima County, another $43 million to the city of Tucson and a little less than $5 million was divided among other metro area municipalities, like Oro Valley and Marana.

Plus, we pay a half-cent transportation sales tax in Pima County that brings in tens of millions a year for road construction and public transit.

And yes, in a growing metro area, the transportation needs are great.

Yet, we’re giving local governments close to $200 million a year from all these and other sources.

And still, the drive home is teeth-jarringly unpleasant.

Makes one wonder what route the politicians and bureaucrats are taking to get to and fro.

It surely can’t be the same rugged byways the rest of us have to travel.