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Report Answers Wrong Questions

A news release sent last week from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli offers an insight as to why New York state continues spinning its wheels.

DiNapoli’s news release trumpeted a report with the obvious news that local government capital spending on roads, bridges and water and sewer systems declined between 2010 and 2012. It then included some advice to local governments for infrastructure work, including issuing bonds for the work; identifying long-term and short-term infrastructure needs using a comprehensive capital planning process and working with the applicable state agencies to coordinate their approach to address these needs; partnering with state policymakers and working with federal agencies to develop strategies to provide additional funding for water, sewer and transportation systems; seeking additional grant funding and state and federal expertise as a component of the local capital planning process; and exploring the potential of public-private partnerships to address specific infrastructure needs.

Really, Mr. Wizard? Those are your suggestions? How out of touch can a high-ranking state official be with the rest of the world?

For the record, most municipalities already follow DiNapoli’s recommendations about planning to the letter. They are more aggressive than ever looking for outside sources of revenue to do infrastructure work than ever before. It isn’t as if infrastructure in Chautauqua County goes untouched because nobody knows what needs to be done.

We take no issue with DiNapoli’s focus on infrastructure. As we said in July, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates the state needs $27 billion in drinking water infrastructure and $29.7 billion in wastewater infrastructure needs over the next two decades while 12.5 percent of the state’s 17,420 bridges are considered structurally obsolete. Another 27.1 percent of the state’s bridges are considered functionally obsolete. The fact that 60 percent of the state’s roads are graded in poor or mediocre condition costs New York drivers $4.551 billion a year – or an average of $403 for each motorist.

Chautauqua Lake would benefit immensely from a unified sewer district that runs all the way around the lake. Residents in the north county have serious water needs that could be helped by a north county water treatment system – but that will come at a hefty cost. Smaller towns and villages like Forestville, Cherry Creek, Busti and Ellicott have undergone water projects in recent years. And, we can’t forget the aging infrastructure in Jamestown that is crumbling more and more with every hard winter and spring thaw.

The work list for area public works officials has never been bigger and the available dollars to do that work has never been smaller. The state tax cap and ever-increasing costs for employee salaries and benefits make municipalities wary of issuing bonds to pay for infrastructure work – with limited revenue streams, no leader worth their salt would dare take on too much debt right now.

Mr. DiNapoli, everyone already knew our infrastructure needs to be rebuilt. The $64,000 question is how to pay for it. Issue a report when you solve that conundrum.

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