Nashville City Paper

Basic infrastructure needs $24.4 billion
By John Rodgers,
jrodgers@nashvillecitypaper.com
January 05, 2006

The state's infrastructure needs - estimated at $24.4 billion - are
pressuring lawmakers to allocate more money toward basic necessities like roads, drinking water and sewers when the new state budget is approved.

A Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) report highlights the state's infrastructure necessities and the funding required to meet them.

State, federal and local governments will need to appropriate $24.4 billion to meet all of the state's infrastructure needs through fiscal year 2008, the report says. But within that $24.4 billion, only $10.1 billion has been made available, creating more than a $14 billion deficit.

That funding shortage alarms advocacy groups. Pete DeLay, the chairman of the Tennessee Infrastructure Alliance and the president of Sherman-Dixie Concrete Industries in Nashville, sent a letter Tuesday to lawmakers urging them to increase funding for the state's infrastructure "crisis."

"Without basic infrastructure services - drinking water, sewer systems, flood control, a transportation network - the delivery of other services, such as education and health care, are impossible," DeLay wrote.

A combination of state, local and federal dollars will be counted on to pay for the infrastructure costs, advocates say. But to raise additional revenues, a state tax increase could be necessary, which is a move the Tennessee Infrastructure Alliance would not currently suggest.

"I think that the message at this time is that government needs to
prioritize its spending," said Rob Ikard, a consultant for the infrastructure group.

In order of priorities, TACIR reported the state's transportation system needs the largest increase in infrastructure funding. After the system experienced a $1.3 billion increase in costs since 2003, TACIR found the state lacks $10.4 billion in transportation and utilities' needs.

But actually funding the roughly $14 billion infrastructure deficit through 2008 is unlikely, TACIR officials said.

"These are needs, and we encourage local officials to report what their needs are, not what they expect to be able to do," said Lynnisse Roehrick-Patrick, TACIR's director of special projects. "It would be surprising if the entire amount were to become available during that period."

State Sen. Douglas Henry (D-Nashville), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee as well as a TACIR commission member, said infrastructure funding is a legitimate concern that must be considered.

"It's just like your house, if you don't do any upkeep on it, eventually
it'll fall down," Henry said.

But Henry added he's not sure if infrastructure needs will garner a
substantial increase in state dollars, thus sacrificing increases in areas like education and health care, when the next budget is approved.

Other infrastructure areas requiring funding include health, safety and education, the report says.

Health and safety infrastructure are the state's second biggest needs, the report states, estimated to cost $5.4 billion through 2008.

TACIR also cautions that just behind health and safety are additional costs to fund infrastructure for the school system. Driven partially by increased enrollment in high schools because of the state-sponsored lottery
scholarships, education infrastructure costs increased to $5.3 billion
through 2008.

Overall, in an era when government spending is tight and money was spent on education and health care, infrastructure may have been forgotten, Ikard said.

"When people are worked up by education and health care," Ikard said, "it's easy to forget that your roads are crumbling and your bridges aren't being maintained."