State Highway 5 between St. Maries and Plummer
photo KHQ local news
The Idaho legislature is tied in knots at the end of a do-nothing session. They got their budgets filled out with very small exceptions to the governor’s recommendations and want to head out of town. But the Idaho House, where all revenue bills must start wants to cut taxes. And the Idaho Senate wants to fix our roads, but they can’t write a revenue bill, so they propose borrowing money based on future federal gas tax payments (GARVEE). And in the mean time we citizens better all slow down, swerve around the potholes, fix our blow tires and replace our bent rims.
Idaho has known about the road funding deficit for years. Maybe Trump’s infrastructure promise will bail us out, but he’s also trumpeting tax cuts and a border wall. Why can’t we step up and solve our own problems? It’s courage folks, not asphalt we lack.
This winter exposed some real weakness, but it really didn’t happen with the rain and snow. It’s happened because we haven’t had the courage to confront our problems. How bad is it? You can’t get from Plummer to St. Maries along State Highway 5 now, it’s slumped and impassable. And that county elected a state senator that thought “Idaho roads are just fine”; he campaigned that the gas tax increase was “stealing money out of your pocket”. I 84 between Boise and Nampa was one lane this winter due to deep potholes, even closed for a few days. House representatives staged a little press conference to say “something needs to be done!” but their spokesman and 5 others in the gaggle voted against the gas tax increase in 2015. So what are your suggestions, elected leaders?
Our governor had the courage and insight to commission a poll a few years back to ask the voters what their solutions might be. Guess what? Voters wanted the roads fixed, but they didn’t want to pay for the job. I want my house fixed up too, but I understand I should pay for it. But then, I own my house. Do Idahoans think they are renting this state? Do they expect some landlord to step up and fix it?
In so many areas Idahoans say they want the Federal government to back off, leave us alone. So why would we trust the feds to bail out our crumbling roads? Idaho leaders are listening to you, their constituents, and that is their job. We the people need to tell our leaders we accept the responsibility of ownership. Shared ownership is still ownership. And we want to share in the costs to maintain what we own.
Good leaders are barely felt; it’s like we all want something and it gets done as if by our own will. But leaders can set the tone; they say things over and over, giving us ear worms, and sometimes we come to believe these phrases. We have elected local leaders who sing the song of less government, less taxes. We can’t fix roads without paying for it. I’m asking for a little help from our leaders. But we need to let them know we are ready to be responsible.