InfrastructureMissouri looking for ways to fund infrastructure repairs
As is the case in other states, Missouri faces “a huge backlog of repair and maintenance needs” in its infrastructure, in the words of a state lawmaker. Lawmakers debate bond issue, increase in state sales tax, and other measures to fund the necessary repairs.
The Missouri House committee plans to vote today on a bill which will authorize the issuing of bonds for infrastructure construction. The state senate will debate whether to establish a sales tax which would raise nearly $8 billion over ten years to pay for road and bridge maintenance as well as other transportation projects.
“The state’s got such a huge backlog of repair and maintenance needs,” Representative Chris Kelly, (D-Columbia) sai.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the bond package could generate as much as $1.2 billion and will include money for college campuses, state parks, the state Capitol, rural water projects, K-12 schools, and economic development initiatives. Lawmakers will also decide whether to require local officials to provide funding for projects.
Both proposals will eventually require voter approval.
According to Kelly, the state needs several hundred million dollars in order to the fund top priority projects at each higher education institution, a state Capitol which is “literally falling in,” water pollution from Missouri’s own parks, and the Fulton State Hospital which is the oldest public mental health facility west of the Mississippi River.
When it comes to the state Capitol, electrical problems, mold, and over-crowding highlight the problems, and State parks officials add outdated sewer systems and lodging to the list of things that need to be updated. The money generated from the bonds could also help school districts.
Lawmakers are also trying to find methods to handle the state’s transportation needs. Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard (R-Joplin) said he wants to raise Missouri’s sales tax by 1 percent and dedicate the added revenue to transportation. The measure would then be revisited once a decade for voters to decide whether to continue it, and the 10 percent of it which would go to local transportation projects. In addition, gas tax rate would be frozen and existing roads would not turn into toll roads.
Richard says that since the sponsors of the bill include a Republican and a Democrat, things should move smoothly.
“I think it brings a bipartisan approach to it,” Richard told the Chronicle.
