Community Forums

wa8yxm · 11-15-2014, 02:10 PM

Another issue with road quality is surprise inspections.. now if the State pays for job entierly (Without federal aid) then they can do spot inspections, and Michigan has done this, with interesting results in a couple of stretches of road.

but if Federal Money is involved one of the conditions of grant is that the State may not make unannounced surprise inspections. They have to give notice.. This means the Construction company can toss a couple extra bags of cement in the mix on the day the Inspectors are going to show up...

This needs to change, nationwide, above all else this needs to change.

beamisl · 11-16-2014, 06:42 AM

I sometimes think that the Federal government should do a lottery to pay for things. People seem to buy lottery tickets so maybe this would work.

National Debt Lottery: TAX FREE! For every million dollars in the bucket, there will be a million dollar winner. The other million goes to the National Debt. No Exceptions! So if there are ten million, 5 winners and there will be a winner every week. The other five million on the debt only.

Could do a Road Tax lottery for road repairs: NO TAX again! All monies goes to the road repairs for each state. Makes sense to me but we are talking politicians.

I think if people did not have to pay taxes out of lottery winnings, they would get into this.

ahicks · 11-16-2014, 06:54 AM

The issue is accountability, or more accurately, the lack of it. Contractors, engineers, politicians, and county/state employees.

All you ever hear about is "oops"....

Moonrover · 11-16-2014, 06:55 AM

Pulling back the curtain a bit reveals at least one problem with the funding for highway repairs. The so-called "tax for road construction/repair" goes into a large pot where the politicians can tag it for other uses too. This may not be the case with all states, but I know it is for some. The federal government wrote the book on sneaking money out of solvent programs to pay bills for pet projects, thus leaving some needed programs high and dry. The "go to" solution of course has been and probably always will be ... raise taxes on something. My wallet is a frequent target.

Pepper2 · 11-16-2014, 07:20 AM

Here in Novi, MI we have paved bike trails/jogging baths everywhere. Many with wooden bridges that I am sure are in the $20,000 to $30,00 range each. The other day while driving down a not so great road I saw them resurfacing a section of the above mentioned while I banged down the road in my car. By the way, the paths are used by very few.

Oldrtrcr · 11-16-2014, 07:23 AM

2LT, you are correct. Car registration fees were last raised in 1997. Guess I can hold hard feelings for quite awhile. However this article lists a ton of fees that have gone up this year.
Many fees for Pa. vehicles set to rise on April 1 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

CampDaven · 11-16-2014, 07:34 AM

I suspect that a declining tax base and continued high unemployment in MI causes redeployment of road monies, even though there is/was almost a $1B state budget surplus. That and the budget strains brought on by the infrastructure required to support the uncounted long-term (no longer seeking work) unemployed. When the boat is leaking, the plugging effort will grab at any possible resource, me thinks.

akadeadeye · 11-16-2014, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moonrover

Does this mean that the tax per gallon would be removed?

HaHaHaHaHaHaHa

:laugh :

Superslif · 11-16-2014, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Pennsylvania raised gas taxes by 10 cents on January 1, 2014. That moved the rate to ~59 cents per gallon. Fifth highest in the country. On January 1, 2015 it goes up another 10 cents and on January 1, 2017 it goes up by another 8 cents. Additionally vehicle registrations went up by 50%. You should feel good about 25cents!

No wonder PA. fuel prices are 20 to 40 cents more than OH. At some point vacationing to those states will deter RVers to go elsewhere.

Case in point, since they tripled the PA. tollroad fees, I have traveled less to SW. PA. areas the last 5 years. Have no reason why I get charged 3 times the car rate. car = 2 axles truck and RV = 4 axles Cost me $30 to go 90 miles. Or $75 to go across the state each way.

Michigan is one state I have / had on my bucket list to visit.

CampDaven · 11-16-2014, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superslif

No wonder PA. fuel prices are 20 to 40 cents more than OH. At some point vacationing to those states will deter RVers to go elsewhere.

Case in point, since they tripled the PA. tollroad fees, I have traveled less to SW. PA. areas the last 5 years. Have no reason why I get charged 3 times the car rate. car = 2 axles truck and RV = 4 axles Cost me $30 to go 90 miles. Or $75 to go across the state each way.

Michigan is one state I have / had on my bucket list to visit.

I fill up in OH before going East or West of there. IN and PA can easily be crossed without a fill up, and without tolls, especially that aweful PA TP. My MH and toad going end to end is over $120, and the alternate route (I-80) will only cost you about 40 minutes and is in much better condition.

Gordon Dewald · 11-16-2014, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beamisl

I sometimes think that the Federal government should do a lottery to pay for things. People seem to buy lottery tickets so maybe this would work.

National Debt Lottery: TAX FREE! For every million dollars in the bucket, there will be a million dollar winner. The other million goes to the National Debt. No Exceptions! So if there are ten million, 5 winners and there will be a winner every week. The other five million on the debt only.

Could do a Road Tax lottery for road repairs: NO TAX again! All monies goes to the road repairs for each state. Makes sense to me but we are talking politicians.

I think if people did not have to pay taxes out of lottery winnings, they would get into this.

Meanwhile back at the legislative grounds the politicians vote to increase the debt to refurbish the legislative buildings (new furniture for the offices, improve the subsidized kitchen) that were refurbished last year.

**JohnRR** · 11-16-2014, 02:15 PM

Let's not go into the political angles please.

wa8yxm · 11-16-2014, 03:42 PM

This is as close as I hope to get to politics in this thread..

I think what they need to do more than anything is cut the fat.. Start by cutting elected officials wages by 50% then let them apply to the people for a raise, the people could choose to grant, deny or cut by the same amount.

In the case of the Highway Comission, Look to see where management is inflated ...

I know of a company (not a state or government) on the bring of bankruptcy,, Well they hired a new CEO (Who eventually ran them into the ground but..)
He looked at the management ladder and have you ever seen that E-Trade commercial where the people receive a document into one hand transfer it to their other hand, and pass it on to the next hand, never actually so much as looking at it? Well they had layers of management who did nothing but rubber stamp a document and pass it up the ladder (or back down).

He fired them.

And saved the company from bankruptcy.

(Then he did some stuff that did not make sense and.. Well back to court they went, and this time failed).

But we need to delete "Rubber Stampers".

Moonrover · 11-16-2014, 04:51 PM

In other words ... streamline the system. Cost cutting first should be in the heavy management overhead. Works that way in the private sector, but very difficult to do in government.

On a micro-scale some community groups are repairing pot holes with volunteer labor and donated materials. Works OK for small city streets, but you can imagine how dangerous it could be on major highways. Anyway, the effort has not gone unnoticed by the news media. Which means egg on the face of government officials who are woefully inept at getting "stuff" done.