Wednesday, October 9, 1996

Commissioners agree on more state highway funding, but not lottery share

By JERRY DANIEL REED
Senior Staff Writer

Good roads, yes; a cut of the state's lottery revenue, no, Taylor County Commissioners decided Tuesday.

Presented two proposed resolutions to sign and forward to the Texas Legislature, commissioners embraced the one and shunned the other. The court readily agreed to back more funding for highway and bridge upkeep but balked at joining a plea for a 5 percent cut of lottery revenues to the cities and counties where the lottery tickets are sold.

Bill Senter, chairman of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee, found a warm reception for finding funds to cut into a backlog of needed projects of the Texas Department of Transportation.

"Remember when we used to brag about how good the highways were in the state of Texas? That we could be proud of ours, compared to any other state's?" said Senter.

"Well, that's not true any longer - matter of fact it's getting worse."

Although more than 78 percent of the state's roadways need repair or modernization, half the approved, worthy projects wind up shelved for lack of enough funding, the resolution states.
A major cause of the revenue crunch is that fuel efficiency under the hood has kept fuel tax revenue even while heavier vehicular traffic lays more of a burden on roadways, the resolution also asserts.

The lottery resolution, which originated with Denton County Commissioners, started off here with a cool reception that only got chillier.

"I don't have real strong feelings about the resolution one way or another," County Judge Lee Hamilton said in introducing the matter.

Unincorporated areas of Taylor County, having few stores selling lottery tickets, would benefit little, observed Commissioner Jack Turner.

"I don't see any reason to dip into the state's pocket," agreed Commissioner Neil Fry. Offsetting revenue sharing with equal spending cuts would make it better, he added.

Finally, Commissioner Stan Egger guessed the state would merely offset its 5 percent lottery revenue rebate to cities and counties by cutting other funding it sends their way.
"Ultimately, it would probably end up costing us," he said.

Not surprisingly, the resolution didn't draw a motion to consider.