Idaho road request to go before lawmakers

BOISE – Legislative budget writers today will consider Gov. Dirk Kemp-thorne’s $227 million request for next year’s installment of the “Connecting Idaho” road-building program, a decision lawmakers say could set the tone for the rest of the 2006 session, including a possible veto battle.

The budget committee will consider the program’s fiscal 2007 spending package, along with the Idaho Department of Transportation’s separate $501 million budget.

Kempthorne wants the panel’s go-ahead to sell bonds worth $218 million and to set aside another $8.8 million to make interest payments on that debt.

His plan to finance improvements on roads such as Interstate 84 between Caldwell and Meridian and U.S. Highway 95 in North Idaho by going into debt, then paying the money back with future federal highway money, will help the state improve more miles of road more quickly and for less money, Kempthorne argues.

Waiting for federal dollars before building would leave Idaho at the mercy of inflation, the governor says.

“If you don’t do them now, they’ll never be completed,” said Mike Journee, Kempthorne’s press secretary.

Critics, including Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, and Sen. Skip Brandt, R-Kooskia, who chair the House and Senate transportation committees, told the budget panel Feb. 21 to focus on only a couple of projects.

They are concerned payments on bonds will sap money from other state transportation needs in coming years.

Transportation Board Chairman Chuck Winder conceded Monday there may be some room to pare back projects, such as the proposed 105-mile Emmett-to-Mesa highway through the Indian Valley that has aroused opposition from some residents near Council.

House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley, told the Associated Press in a recent interview he favors a more conservative approach than Kempthorne advocates, out of concern that future highway money from the federal government is uncertain.

Fuel tax revenue could decline in coming years, with the popularity of more-efficient hybrid cars and if Americans buy less gas as oil prices escalate, he said.

Newcomb, who like Kempthorne is in his final year in office, said if he likes the proposal that emerges from the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, he’ll support it even if it means being at odds with Kempthorne. Last year, the governor vetoed eight bills to pressure the House to pass the road-building plan.