Budget in Bondage to TDOT

A Nashville City Paper editorial warning against raiding the Tennessee Department of Transportation's budget to balance the state budget is both right and wrong. The editorial is right when it says the Legislature should not raid TDOT's funds for a temporary budget Band-Aid. But viewing TDOT's funding as sacred is shortsighted.

Tennessee currently pays cash for its roads. We're one of only eight states to do so. Most states issue bonds to finance roads. Tennessee should join the other 42 states that use bond financing to build roads. If we do, we can have good roads and a balanced budget.

Paying cash is stupid and short-sighted because roads last a long time and low-interest bonds paid back over 30 years allow future users of the road to help in paying for the roads (and with inflation-devalued dollars.) Most states use bonds to build roads and other long-term infrastructure because it is sensible fiscal policy.

TDOT is loaded with cash from the gasoline tax - enough to finance the bonds to keep road construction on its current pace and divert some of TDOT's funding to immediate needs. There might even be enough left to allow the state to give drivers a small cut in the gas tax.