State transportation cuts under fire

Brandon Larrabee, Morris News Service

October 9, 2008

Hours after the state Department of Transportation board settled on a plan to resolve a massive deficit in the state's road-building program, a top lawmaker told DOT commissioner Gena Evans that the proposal wouldn't pass the General Assembly.

The board's plan would take more than $50 million from two funds for local road construction and instead use it to almost eliminate the deficit at the DOT. That move would allow the agency to avoid laying off 566 employees or forcing workers to take a one-day furlough each month.

Board members made clear during a Tuesday morning meeting that they didn't intend to cut hundreds of jobs as the nation slips into a likely recession.

"It is sinful, in my opinion, to hurt our employees in any way because of this problem," said Sam Wellborn, a board member from Columbus.

The department is trying to rein in a debt that state officials have struggled to define. Auditors have blamed the problem on mismanagement of Gov. Sonny Perdue's Fast Forward program, which was designed to accelerate needed construction projects but might have overwhelmed the agency's financial practices in the process.

Some board members dissented from the plan, arguing that the deficit was more a paper creation caused by a switch in accounting systems than an actual shortfall. And they said the agency could raise the money by selling off excess property or taking other steps short of slicing jobs or choking off money for road construction.

"There are plenty of ways to get (the money) without laying off people and without wrecking the cities and counties of the state," said David Doss, a board member from Rome.
And at an afternoon committee meeting at the Capitol, lawmakers told Evans that any plan to cut one of the local construction funds, the Local Assistance Road Program, wouldn't pass muster.

"I'd have to say automatically that the LARP reduction is not going to be acceptable to the General Assembly," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga. "I would say that is very precious and needed for economic development purposes and for communities all across Georgia."

Mullis and other lawmakers said they would write to members of the DOT board and ask them to back off the plan. Board members are elected by legislative caucuses from each of the state's 13 congressional districts.

Lawmakers say the department doesn't need as many employees as it currently has if road projects are going to be curtailed to help resolve the deficit.

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle sent a letter to board members last week asking them to avoid cutting projects.

"Private businesses all across the country go through this same exercise when revenues drop -- they cut operational expenses to mirror revenue reductions. ... The Department should take steps to reduce overhead within the department first before moving to eliminate vital construction needs such as State Aid," Cagle wrote.

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