I have a deep respect for Yankee frugality. It’s an endearing trait in my wife, an accounting major who works in the financial industry. She makes sure we’re socking away money and keeping bills down. I, on the other hand, am more prone to the occasional impulse buy. It’s just one of the many ways we balance each other out.
Our state officials could use some of the same balance. In the biennial battle to keep spending down and how to define critical needs, infrastructure inevitably seems to get lost.
Year after year, we hear dire warnings from the NH Department of Transportation that our roads and bridges are deteriorating at a far faster rate than the work that has been approved by the state. That’s right, despite the fact that our roads always seem to be under construction, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to our need. And those deferred repair costs only increase with time.
While the passage of the gas tax in 2014 was a step toward mending many roads and bridges, it had been a whopping 23 years since the previous increase. And that deal came at a price, eliminating the local toll booths in Merrimack, at a cost of $600,000. And now, as of press time, The NH House is considering a budget proposal that would cut $41 million from the state’s highway fund.
That is the wrong direction for our state. An investment for the common good is inevitable, and in a state where officials worry about an election a mere two years down the road, the temptation to put off big ticket expenditures and make it another guy’s problem is too great. Yes, we need to be fiscally prudent, but that doesn’t just mean balancing the current budget. It means taking a much longer view of the state and the higher costs—from both a financial and safety standpoint—if we don’t invest more wisely.
As one of our feature stories this month points out, roads and bridges are not the only infrastructure that will reach a crisis point if not addressed. Our water and sewer systems, invisible to most of us until they fail, are in desperate need of repair and updates. And yet, many communities continue to delay making the investment. Perhaps it’s easier to sell those kind of bond issues when a disaster makes the purchase of repairs unavoidable.
No, we cannot afford to pay the billions needed now, but nor can we afford to defer these costs as they will only mount and literally reach a breaking point. We need to not only develop plans for our infrastructure, but stick to those commitments, even when the financial going gets tough, as the cost will be even that much higher if we don’t.
Sincerely,
Matthew J. Mowry
Editor