STARKVILLE — Mississippi Department of Transportation Executive Director Brad White said the biggest two challenges facing the state’s transportation system are funding and staffing.
Every year, MDOT receives $1.2 billion from state funding to maintain state roads, highways and bridges with a $400 million gap to maintain paving needs throughout the state and $50 million for bridges, White said. He said he believes the government sometimes gears their focus toward issues that are not a vital part of Mississippi operation instead of focusing on core functions of government, like transportation.
“Our roadways are not adequately able to accommodate the amount of road traffic that we have,” White told Starkville Rotary Club on Monday. “The list of those projects could include about $4.5 to $5 billion worth of projects identified throughout the state.”
When White assumed his role in summer 2021, he realized MDOT needed to identify ways to increase funding for his department to fulfill all of the state’s transportation needs, with the first place being within the department by determining what efficiency measures MDOT could implement that would free up money and better utilize taxpayer dollars and other resources.
The majority of MDOT’s funding stems from the state’s fuel tax, a tax imposed on the sale of gasoline. While the bulk of this tax goes directly to MDOT, $15 to $25 million per year is taken out and sent to other state agencies for purposes unrelated to transportation, such as beaver control for the Department of Agriculture. White said while these issues are important and need to be addressed, he believes funding for them should come from other sources, such as from the state’s appropriations bill.
White said MDOT is having continuous discussions with the state legislature regarding the proposal that other state departments would be better funded through the general appropriations process, allowing for the transportation department to keep all fuel tax money and fulfill the purpose of the department.
“I believe taking care of our transportation system is one of the core functions of government,” White said.
While White believes the entirety of fuel tax should go to MDOT, he said the legislature has worked hard in recent years to find new sources of revenue for transportation.
The Emergency Road and Bridge Relief Fund gives local governments state dollars to improve bridges throughout the state, but 35-percent of EBRB funds go directly to MDOT. The Mississippi Lottery was established in 2018, and every year, the first $80 million goes to MDOT. White said 2,000 lanes from two lane roads throughout the state have been funded through lottery dollars.
“I’m very proud of the recognition the legislature has given to MDOT, and I’m happy to report we’re having very positive conversations on how to make a better investment in the transportation system to help us narrow the gap,” White said.
Mississippi is receiving $4.5 billion from the recently approved federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. White said the majority of these funds — $3.6 billion — is going toward reauthorization of federal highways, a process that focuses on highway construction and planning that states must conduct every five years. While the rest of the infrastructure bill will help increase the state’s total overall transportation funds, White said it does not eliminate the needs Mississippi roadways have.
Aside from funding, White said MDOT has struggled in recent years to maintain employees. When he first worked at MDOT nearly 25 years ago, White said the average tenured employee had roughly 30 years of experience, but now average employees have half of that.
Over the last year, MDOT has lost over 30 engineers. White said the state does not provide employees with adequate salaries, with some starting pays being only $18,000 per year. While recruitment and retention efforts have been a challenge for his department, White said MDOT is frequently having conversations with the legislature about raising employee pay to mirror that of surrounding states in order to compete with other entities.
“We’ve lost a lot of institutional knowledge,” White said. “Our ability to not just retain employees, but recruit involves having to beat the private sector, beat the federal highway administration or surrounding states has been greatly impacted by the simple fact that the wages we are paying these individuals are just not enough to be able to make ends meet the ways they would want.”
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