To repair local roads and bridges, towns need more state aid

It’s not as if snow and ice this time of year are surprising sights.

Yet as anyone responsible for road maintenance will attest,

Chris Koetzle is the supervisor of the town of Glenville and a member of the state Association of Towns. we watch every flake with bated breath, wondering where the snow plows will catch the pavement next and create a new pothole.

Since becoming Glenville town supervisor in 2010, I have been proud of the work we have done to maintain our local infrastructure and plan for the future. We’ve carefully balanced the need to address infrastructure with fiscal responsibility, leading to budgets that maintain essential town services as the town grows, all while putting our taxpayers first.

But as this winter begins to set in, I know that keeping up with our infrastructure challenges, not just in Glenville but across the state, will be among the most arduous tasks facing local public servants. Statewide, town officials are responsible for more than 60,000 miles of roads and 8,600 highway bridges, according to the state Association of Towns. Collectively, town governments spend $7 billion each year just maintaining this important infrastructure, to say nothing of the cost to maintain pedestrian infrastructure and the increasingly high costs of maintaining our water infrastructure.

It is imperative that our state lawmakers, on their way to and from Albany, take note of road conditions in their districts, here in the Capital Region and on the drive in between. In doing so,

they must consider the simple and sure fact that state transportation aid for local governments has not kept pace with the rate of inflation. What’s worse, the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) funding — the single most important source of state aid for local road and bridge needs — has been left completely flat since 2013, and the Municipal Streets and Highways Program hasn’t been increased since 2005.

In Glenville, flat funding has meant that some of our town roads will take longer to get paved, which lengthens the time it takes for us to re-pave old, broken-up roads. Further, the very heavy cost required to properly invest in our infrastructure gets shifted from the state to our local property taxpayer — only adding to one of New York’s most vexing problems: high property taxes.

Statewide, New York must increase spending on local roads and bridges by 64 percent just to maintain current levels of service, according to Washington, D.c.-based transportation research group TRIP.

As a town official, I know I have champions in state government. More than 60 percent of the Legislature participates in an annual call to increase CHIPS funding. But that still has not translated to action in the state budget.

State and local officials must work together in 2019 to actually make a dent in the ever-growing need to rebuild our infrastructure. Punting this issue yet again in the coming year is a disservice to the taxpayers — who, we all can agree, should not have to shoulder heftier property tax burdens to pay for road maintenance needs.

It is my sincere hope that winter takes it easy on all of us. But even if it does, another year of flat funding will ensure that next winter won’t be so favorable.