The federal government shutdown has idled 45 Oklahoma transportation projects worth more than $137 million, officials said.
Mike Patterson, executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, updated the Oklahoma Transportation Commission on the impact of the lack of a federal budget or continuing resolution on upcoming road and bridge projects in the state.
The delayed projects include highway, county road and city street projects using federal funds. Projects that are already under contract are not affected because funds were already authorized before the contracts were awarded.
“While we’re very grateful that the Highway Trust Fund remains available to pay for the federal share of projects already under construction, the inability to award new contracts with federal funds could delay some projects from starting for several months,” Patterson said. “If this budget impasse continues, contractors could miss out on some of this year’s prime construction season in the spring and summer.”
Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican inaugurated Monday, did not mention the federal government shutdown in his first official address but did vow to reduce the independence of state agencies such as ODOT.
“We need to change how Oklahoma’s 400 agencies and commissions are comprised,” Stitt said. “Our current system gives agencies too much independence from the voter — they have the ability to ignore executive orders, skirt around laws passed by the legislature, hide pockets of money, and protect their own interests by hiring lobbyists.”
Stitt also promised to continue working to reduce Oklahoma’s incarceration rate, which is one of the highest among the states.
“As a state, we must do better, and we must believe in the power of second chances, of grace and redemption,” Stitt said. “It will require us to step forward together as citizens, as churches, as job creators, as a government to bring meaningful change.”
Stitt begins his term with rising revenues after years of cutbacks and revenue emergencies exacerbated by Republican tax cuts. After months of negotiations, Republican Gov. Mary Fallin and legislative leaders worked out a formula to bring the budget back into balance while providing to teachers who had walked out of school to protest low salaries. Negotiations produced the largest tax increases in state history.
The additional revenue eased pressures from bond rating agencies and gave public school teachers with their first pay hike in a decade.
The additional tax revenue and last year’s boom in oil prices led to an anticipated surplus of more than $600 million to spend on next year's budget, also adding $450 million to the state's rainy day reserve fund.
As the partial federal shutdown continues, some state departments of transportation are beginning to curtail planning for new projects while several mass transit systems are scrambling because many rely on federal grants for both operating revenues and capital funding, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
In his first media briefing as AASHTO's new executive director, Jim Tymon said U.S. Department of Transportation employees paid out of the Highway Trust Fund, including all Federal Highway Administration employees, are reporting to duty with pay as usual and that FHWA is able to continue reimbursing states for projects approved prior to the shutdown.
“I think what you’ll see in the short term is states finding ways to move money around from different pots in order to keep their systems operating as efficiently as possible. It’s not something they can do forever,” Tymon said. “The longer this drags on, you’re going to see states start to draw back on their letting for new projects because they won’t have their full allocation of federal money for 2019 yet.”
