Minutes Joint Legislative Transportation Vision Task
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Kansas Legislative Research Department February 8, 2019 MINUTES JOINT LEGISLATIVE TRANSPORTATION VISION TASK FORCE November 9, 2018 Kansas Farm Bureau 2627 KFB Plaza, Manhattan, KS Members Present Senator Carolyn McGinn, Co-chairperson Representative Richard Proehl, Co-chairperson Senator Rick Billinger Senator Tom Holland (substituting for Senator Tom Hawk) Senator Mike Petersen Senator Pat Pettey Senator John Skubal Representative J. R. Claeys Representative Shannon Francis Representative Adam Lusker Representative Troy Waymaster Matt Allen Richard Carlson Jon Daveline Max Dibble Lindsey Douglas Ty Dragoo Chad Girard Steve Hewitt Mike King Kenzil Lynn Alise Martiny Jackie McClaskey Cameron McGown Donald Roberts Andy Sanchez Steve Sloan Kip Spray Bridgette Williams Sam Williams Jerry Younger Members Absent Representative Henry Helgerson Jim Allen Mary Birch Mike Brown Staff Present Jill Shelley, Kansas Legislative Research Department Aaron Klaassen, Kansas Legislative Research Department Whitney Howard, Kansas Legislative Research Department Katelin Neikirk, Kansas Legislative Research Department Chris Waggoner, Office of Revisor of Statutes Connie Burns, Committee Assistant Conferees Suzanne Loomis, City Engineer and Director of Public Works, City of Newton Amanda Stanley, Chief Counsel, League of Kansas Municipalities Chris Herrick, Director of Planning and Development and Interim Director of Fiscal and Asset Management, Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) Mark Taylor, Program and Project Management, KDOT Larry Thompson, Director of Operations, KDOT Joel Skelley, Director of Policy, KDOT Ron Seitz, Director of Engineering and Design, KDOT Julie Lorenz, Burns & McDonnell Representative Dave Baker, 68th District Tom Moxley, Moxley Ranch Aron Dody, Superintendent, Morris County Public Schools USD 417 Gary Stith, Director, Flint Hills Regional Council David Fritchen, private citizen, Manhattan Monica Simecka, President, Council Grove/Morris County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Mike Dodson, Mayor, City of Manhattan Mark Bachamp, Chairman, Transportation Committee, Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce Curtis Sneden, Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce Rod Willis, City Manager, City of Osage City William Prescott, Osage City Industrial Development Committee Dorothy Goodman, Yellow Brick Road Committee, Sabetha Stephanie Peterson, Director, Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization Nathan Bergman, Kansas Chapter President, American Public Works Association Tucker Stewart, President, Kansas Agricultural Alliance Jake Lauer, President, Kansas Aggregate Producers’ Association Ryan Flickner, Senior Director, Advocacy Division, Kansas Farm Bureau Michael White, Executive Director, Kansas Contractors Association Others Attending See Attached List. Morning Session Welcome The meeting was called to order by Co-chairperson McGinn at 10:04 a.m. She welcomed the Joint Legislative Transportation Vision Task Force (Task Force) members and Kansas Legislative Research Department 2 Joint Legislative Transportation Vision Task Force Minutes for November 9, 2018 guests to the last regional Task Force meeting. The Co-chairpersons thanked the Task Force members and staff for their time and hard work. Co-chairperson Proehl stated at today’s meeting the Task Force would be hearing from the cities and the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) on its project selection process. Local Roads – Cities Suzanne Loomis, City Engineer and Director of Public Works, City of Newton, and Amanda Stanley, General Counsel, League of Kansas Municipalities, provided a presentation on local roads (Attachment 1). Ms. Stanley reviewed the diversity among cities, noting Kansas’ 625 cities range in population from 24 to 382,368, with 566 of them having populations of less than 5,000; population categories used by KDOT are less than 5,000, 5,001 to 50,000, and 50,001 or more. Ms. Loomis stated municipal transportation systems include roadways, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, airports, railroads and crossings, and transit. She noted there are 17,000 miles of city streets in Kansas and that 12.0 percent of the total road miles and 5.0 percent of all bridges in the state receive 27.0 percent of the vehicle miles traveled in the state. Ms. Loomis stated this concentration of vehicle traffic requires extensive maintenance programs to keep pavement in good condition and quick responses to pavement problems. She described maintenance and operations for cities and their differences from highway operations, such as many miles logged for street sweepers that keep storm sewer systems clean and help cities meet storm water permit regulations, and having multiple pavement types, which increases costs. She noted there are a total of 1,254 city-owned bridges in Kansas, plus an unknown number of structures like bridges less than 20 feet in length and therefore not officially classified as bridges. Cities are often also responsible for waterways as well as the bridges. She stated the State has $8.0 million per year available to the cities and counties to share in the maintenance and replacement of 19,300 bridges and approximately half of the local bridges are 50 years old or older. Ms. Stanley stated cities are having a hard time figuring out how to pay for the increased mileage and rising cost of materials to maintain the roads, bridges, and waterways. She noted deferred maintenance ultimately increases costs. Ms. Loomis noted local availability affects choice of materials used. Ms. Stanley stated payments for city connecting links would need to be increased 50.0 percent in 2019 or to $7,305 by 2027 to achieve the purchasing power of $3,000 in 1999, when the city connecting links rate was established. Ms. Stanley stated the Special City and County Highway Fund (SCCHF) has been in existence in some form since 1949 and the ratio set in 1983 for sharing funds was based on vehicle miles traveled (approximately 44.0 percent of all vehicle miles traveled were on local miles at that time). However, the rate was 40.5 percent to the SCCHF from 1984 to 1999 and was reduced further in 1999 and 2002 with a commitment to return to 44.0 percent in 2020. That commitment was rescinded in 2010 and the current rate is 33.63 percent of motor fuel taxes to the SCCHF. She described this percentage as unreasonably low given the proportion of vehicle miles traveled on local roads. Ms. Stanley stated connecting links and SCCHF revenues are critical for cities’ transportation programs and must be continued. She noted challenges include SCCHF revenues growing far below the rate of inflation, averaging 0.7 percent annual growth versus inflation of 2.7 percent; she explained some of this is due to increased fuel efficiency, resulting in less fuel being purchased. She noted there have been legislative proposals to increase revenues from motor fuels, but increases in motor fuel tax rates have been coupled with Kansas Legislative Research Department 3 Joint Legislative Transportation Vision Task Force Minutes for November 9, 2018 reductions in the portion to the SCCHF, resulting in no increase in funding for cities and counties. Ms. Stanley also discussed the property tax lid, stating the lid especially impacts cities with a limited retail base; raising property taxes beyond a rolling average of the Consumer Price Index requires a public vote; and the tax lid does not take into account increases in costs for construction materials and labor, which do not necessarily dovetail with general inflation figures. She stated the tax lid encourages bonding projects, including transportation projects, rather than paying cash for them, which increases the cost of projects. Ms. Loomis provided examples of overall city street maintenance budgets, showing the portions received for connecting links, from the Federal Fund Exchange Program, and from the SCCHF; she stated people often overestimate the proportion received from state funds. She provided an example of an economic development project in Newton and illustrated how State and local dollars over a long term had been used for related projects. Ms. Loomis stated, while cities differ, the demand for bicycling facilities overall is rising. Federal Transportation Enhancement Program funds have helped pay for improvements in cities in the past, but funding has diminished over time. According to KDOT’s “2016 Kansas Traffic Crash Facts,” 365 crashes statewide involved pedal cyclists at a cost exceeding $47 million. She stated a state study should be conducted to determine the actual miles of infrastructure in place for bicycling and the number of users, and future trend data would be important for all agencies in planning and budgeting related to this transportation alternative. Ms. Stanley summarized important transportation issues for cities: protection of state highway program dollars for transportation, the completion of projects planned for the Transportation Works for Kansas (T-Works) program, increased state funding for local system preservation and expansion, more control by cities over how to spend their state program funds and coordinate all local planning, and attention to alternate modes of transportation. In response to questions, the conferees stated they would provide more information on property tax lids in other states, exceptions to those lids, property taxes paid by a company in Newton that benefited from a transportation expansion project, and bonding in Newton and Harvey County for transportation purposes. They also stated tax lids have an increasing