SCDOT: Agency Needs More Money or Has To Build Fewer Roads

Money problems at the South Carolina Department of Transportation are going to affect you one way or another. DOT Secretary Robert St. Onge told state senators they have two options: either come up with more money for the agency, or it will have to do fewer road building, widening, repaving and repair projects.

The state Senate Transportation Committee is now investigating the DOT, after cash flow problems caused it to pay contractors late this summer. The DOT got a $52 million advance from the federal government, which allowed it to catch up on its payments to contractors, and DOT Secretary Robert St. Onge told senators that he's made internal changes to prevent similar problems in the future.

But he also told senators that the state's gas tax is not keeping up with its road and bridge needs. While the SCDOT is responsible for the 5th-largest state-maintained road system in the nation, South Carolina has the 4th-lowest gas tax at 16.75 cents a gallon.

According to a presentation he gave the Senate Transportation Committee, 49 percent of the state's secondary roads are in either poor or very poor condition.

Drivers have mixed feelings, with higher taxes or worse road conditions being unappealing options.

Camden resident Chip Mosier says, if given DOT's choice of either getting more money or doing fewer projects, "Nobody wants to raise taxes on anything, really. But if it comes down to it, it's better for safety reasons that you could fix the roads."

Pearl McLeod of Rembert says, "I don't know. I guess more taxes, 'cause we do need the roads fixed."

But Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Camden, says lawmakers have talked about raising the gas tax for years, but the talk hasn't gone anywhere. The last time they raised it was 1987.

"I don't think that raising the gas tax is a good thing to do, especially in a recession. I don't think you'll see the legislature do that," he says.

He says in the past he's supported the idea of giving the DOT some money from the state's general fund budget. The DOT currently gets pretty much all of its money from state and federal gas taxes now.

He says of not providing more money, and therefore having roads in poor condition, "It's hurt our businesses. It's hurt our ability to attract and retain industry into South Carolina. We're going to have to allocate those funds and we need to start doing that this year from the general budget. And, if not, they (lawmakers) need to come up with some other ideas," he says.

He says he's still concerned about the management at the DOT, even though the secretary says changes have been made to prevent future cash flow problems. St. Onge said the agency was late making a $4 million debt payment, but that was due to "inattentiveness", not the agency's cash flow problems.

Sen. Sheheen says, "That's unacceptable. If that were in a business that I was running and a major payment was missed, I would think that some disciplinary action should be taken. He was not clear whether any had or had not."

Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley Co., chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, says he's forming a special subcommittee to continue looking into the problems at the DOT. He says, "We need to decide how much restructuring we want to achieve. It's hard to fix a problem until we define it and we haven't defined it yet."

He says that subcommittee will likely meet in mid- to late October.