The Regional Transportation Authority’s $2 billion regional roadway improvement plan has a $153.5 million revenue shortfall.
The figure represents the difference between the actual amount of sales-tax revenue collected to fund the plan versus how much was projected to have been collected by now when county voters adopted the plan in 2006.
Nearly halfway through the 20-year half-cent sales-tax-funded plan, the RTA tax has generated about $615 million. Projections at the time of the plan’s adoption assumed revenues would stand at more than $768 million by now.
“That is a fact, but there is no reason to panic,” said Satish Hiremath, Oro Valley mayor and RTA board member.
The RTA board and various committees have been discussing the revenue situation at recent meetings as leaders work to manage existing funds and consider what a renewed transportation plan would look like when the current one expires in 2026.
Hiremath said part of the reason revenues stand below what was anticipated is because of the economic collapse of 2007-2008, from which the region still has not fully recovered.
With the regional economy heavily reliant on the housing industry, Hiremath likened the region like being at the epicenter of a bomb blast. In spite of that, Hiremath said he’s confident the region will recover and sales-tax revenues will pick up.
“Everybody sees we’re climbing out of the recession, so it only leads me to believe things are going to get better, not worse,” he said.
Farhad Moghimi, Pima Association of Governments and RTA executive director, said steps have already been taken to address the shortfall.
For example, $230 million of future state and federal funding intended for regional transportation projects would be reallocated for RTA projects.
The poor economy has also, in one sense, worked in the RTA’s favor.
Moghimi said project bids have come in, on average, about 20 percent lower than expected.
That, along with the funding reallocations, should guarantee that all the RTA plan projects will be completed as planned.
“That really brings the total gap to about $90 million,” Moghimi said. “We know we’re lagging, but we hope we can make it up.”
It’s an optimistic message.
But Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik said the flat revenue projections, slow economic recovery and recent election may require some deeper soul-searching.
“The public has made it clear that they prefer RTA funding to bonding for road repairs,” Kozachik said, referring to the recent bond questions that voters resoundingly rejected.
He said it’s time for the RTA to take the lead on not just building new roadway capacity but consider a roads maintenance and repair element. It’s a theme Kozachik has hit on frequently and something that could be considered when RTA plan renewal discussions begin in 2016 or 2017.
Hiremath said everything would be on the table when those conversations take place.
“We didn’t rule anything in, but we also didn’t rule anything out,” he said.
Until that time, the best we can hope for is an accelerated recovery from the economic doldrums that continue to plague the region.
Down the road
- Watch for ongoing construction along River Road as crews with Pima County Wastewater Reclamation continue repairing and replacing sections of a sewer pipeline. Work is underway along a section of East River Road between North Longfellow Avenue and North Sutton Lane, east of where northbound North Alvernon Way turns into River.
Motorists should expect 24-hour traffic controls while work is being completed. Traffic in the construction area is to be shifted back and forth to accommodate the work, there will be intermittent access restrictions to neighborhood streets, and turns may be restricted from side streets along the construction zone. The work is part of a 10-mile rehab project.
- As part of the city of Tucson’s $100-million road-recovery program, East Camp Lowell Drive between North Columbus Boulevard and North Swan Road will be resurfaced.
- Work is to begin on Dec. 8.
