Vermont agency may have to scale back $5 million

A hard winter season is forcing Vermont’s Agency of Transportation to scale back $5 million worth of transportation projects this year. Redirected money will be used for emergency pothole repairs, but thanks to a revised revenue forecast, more than $1.8 million may not be recovered in the budget.

“These are not easy choices, and finding $4.8 million in an already tight budget at the end of the fiscal year is not easy,” Neale Lunderville, secretary of the Agency of Transportation, told the Vermont Press Bureau.

However, some question the quality of the state’s pothole program, called “Operation Smooth Ride.” The plan would apply a thin overlay to about 80 miles of damaged roadway around the state.

“I wonder whether this thin overlay is a good use of funds, or it’s a cosmetic thing so that people will feel good come [election time],” Rep. Jim Masland told the Vermont Press Bureau.

Lunderville, however, believes the treatments will improve road conditions for years to come.

“The treatments will last multiple years,” he assured the Vermont Press Bureau.

Vermont is looking at recovering the $1.8 million shortfall by making deep cuts in the rail budget. By delaying four railroad construction projects, about $1.3 million can be generated, Lunderville said.

The proposal, however, has not been well-received.

“Money is committed [for railroads], but it is never expended,” Rep. Jim Fitzgerald told the Vermont Press Bureau. “I think we’ve had a lousy rail department in the last 12 months. We haven’t accomplished a thing that I am aware of.”

Officials say an additional $330,000 can be recovered from a delayed bridge project, and another $100,000 left over from the Department of Motor Vehicles’ enhanced driver’s license program also is available. Pulling from an emergency fund set up for town highways and borrowing money from next year’s paving program are other options.

Lunderville encouraged state lawmakers to come up with a new revenue-generating scheme for the transportation agency.