LITTLE ROCK — The Washington County Tea Party came out against a highway construction funding proposal Monday, saying it does not like the timing of the proposal or the lack of details about how the money will be spent.
Gov. Mike Beebe, legislative leaders, the state Democratic and Republican parties, and road construction interests want voters to renew a bond program for repairs to about half of Arkansas’ interstate miles.
The Tea Party group is one of the first to publicly oppose the $575 million in bonds, which Arkansas voters will decide whether to authorize in a Nov. 8 election.
The state highway department managed the money from the original bonds poorly, said Washington County Tea Party Chairman Jeff Oland, 54, of Farmington. Taxpayers, he said, should not approve more money for what he deems to be a failed program.
“Voting this down would be the best tactic at this point,” Oland said. “Just because the government says we need an increase doesn’t mean we do.”
It was financed by the original $575 million bond issue, a 4-cents-per-gallon increase in the diesel fuel tax and federal money set aside for interstate maintenance.
The interstate system in Arkansas totals about 650 miles. The 1999 program repaired about 355 miles. The latest bond program, if voters approve it, would repair about 300 miles, including repairs to some of the sections repaired in the 1999 program.
The highway department is asking for money now, Oland said, because it didn’t have an adequate plan for the bonds approved in 1999 and has too much to maintain.
“I think we need to look at management before we look at allocating more funds. They have ... underfunded the maintenance,” Oland said. “And the taxpayer is left footing the bill for that poor planning.”
The funding went toward repairing interstates, which make up only 4 percent of the state highway system but carry a third of the total traffic, said Randy Ort, Highway Department spokesman. The interstates were built in the 1950s, he noted, not as a result of recent bonds.
“I’m a little confused by their argument,” Ort said. “We’re dealing with a system that was laid out at a national level so I’m not quite sure how we’ve overbuilt the system.”
According to a news release from a group that supports the bonds, Move Arkansas Forward, repairs would begin in late 2012 and would take place on Interstate 530 between Little Rock and Pine Bluff, Interstate 40 between Brinkley and West Memphis, and between Fort Smith and Conway. Also, several sections of interstate around Little Rock would be repaired, along with a stretch of Interstate 540 from Alma to Rogers and sections of Interstate 30 between Little Rock and Texarkana.
Proponents of the plan all stressed that renewing the bonds is not a tax increase.
Arkansans should look at whether their taxes increased after the 1999 election as proof, Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said.
“I think it’s been pretty clear that it isn’t going to raise anyone’s taxes,” De-Cample said.
The bonds may not be a tax increase, Oland said, but Arkansans will have to pay to maintain the roads built by the bonds in the future.
“It would necessitate a lot of taxpayer money that could be spent on road maintenance going to bond commission fees and interest payments,” he said.
The plan relies on the federal government funding road payments for the next fifteen years. “That’s not nearly as sure a bet as it was in 1999,” he said.
Oland also questioned Beebe’s call for a special election in November instead of waiting for a normally scheduled election.
“If it’s not at a [normal] election time, a lot of things are pushed through” because fewer people vote, Oland said.
In the 1999 election, with 1.5 million Arkansans registered to vote, 138,099 people voted, according to Alex Reed, spokesman for secretary of state. It passed with 79.4 percent of the vote.
When he announced the election date, Beebe said that he wanted to focus attention on the bonds instead of competing with other elections like the presidential race.
Approval of the bonds in November would allow the department to be more efficient with the money by repairing roads before they become more badly damaged, said Craig Douglass, Move Arkansas Forward spokesman.
“If we can get the authority to issue the bonds sooner rather than later [that] allows us to do more,” Douglass said. “If we wait until the general election in 2012, the more the roads will deteriorate.”
Arkansas, Pages 8 on 09/27/2011