Editorial: Road funds, credibility are at stake in county

The struggle to raise enough money to build and maintain the region’s roads has been well-documented and lamented.

Dedicated taxes don’t keep pace with inflation. The gasoline tax has become less effective as fuel efficiency has risen. Other possible funding sources are looked at with trepidation for fear of a voter backlash.

So it is disappointing to see that the county might be missing out on opportunities to leverage state and local dollars because of a failure to follow federal guidelines.

Spokane County mismanagement of the $66 million project to upgrade Bigelow Gulch Road could cause the feds to withhold millions of dollars in reimbursements, according to a Washington State Department of Transportation report.

The state, which serves as the administrator of federal highway dollars, must certify that federal guidelines are being followed. According to the report, problems include:

• Purchasing too much or not enough land.

• Not following proper procedures in buying land.

• Unprofessionalism, including inappropriate comments in documents.

• Conflict-of-interest allegations against the supervisor of the county’s right-of-way office.

Spokane County Commissioner Mark Richard says it is likely that some aspects of the project have been botched. The regional WSDOT administrator is working with the county to try to preserve as much as possible of the $19.7 million in federal funds that were earmarked for the project.

In some cases it might be too late to make amends, according to the state report. For instance, the county did not notify some property owners that they could have requested a county-financed appraisal before selling their land.

If a significant federal sum is lost, the county might have to scale back its plans for a five-lane road. To absorb that blow, the county might have to dismantle its right-of-way office and turn the work over to the state because it wouldn’t have sufficiently large projects to manage.

If the office were to survive, county officials should take a serious look into how it is managed.

Barry Lines, who runs the office, seems to be involved in an unusual number of spats that call into question the professionalism of the office. In September, he and a right-of-way agent were disciplined following an argument that led to Lines pushing the agent out of his office.

WSDOT has also accused Lines of a conflict of interest for having served as an agent and a supervisor.

Local governments need to squeeze the greatest possible mileage out of every transportation dollar. Not only is the money hard to come by, but taxpayers are going to be reluctant to fork over more if they think current funds are being mismanaged.