All of a sudden

[VBshooter]

There is money turning up from a lot of different sources for transportation,,This is good news of course and shows what a low life POS,, Mr personality Kaine was as the governor..All these bucks just "happened" to be forgotten and lying around? From the minute he was sworn in he continually tried to shove new taxes down our throats.. Good Riddance ya tax and spend jackass,,,,

Hampton Roads looks to find loose transit cash
By Debbie Messina
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 17, 2010

It's similar to digging around the sofa cushions for spare change, only instead of coins, transportation officials hope to find big money.

A regional effort is under way to uncover any unspent funds from transportation projects that could be used for more urgent road or transit needs.

Richmond found nearly $6 million. Fredericksburg reaped close to $7 million. Even Virginia's Department of Rail and Public Transportation came upon $11.3 million.

In Hampton Roads, the sum could be many times greater.

A memo from the Virginia Department of Transportation's acting commissioner, Greg A. Whirley Sr., indicated the excess locally could amount to more than $100 million.

"I will be shocked and saddened if we've been sitting on that kind of money," said Dwight Farmer, executive director of the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization. "If we're sitting on even $5, $10 or $20 million and we don't have a process in place to get that information and put that money to work, then I am disturbed.

"Transportation dollars are extremely scarce now, so it's more important than ever to redirect those dollars immediately so we can solve transportation problems immediately."

The sleuthing work started last month after Hampton Roads Transit president and CEO Philip Shucet urged a committee of the transportation planning group to seek those balances and to consider using some of the money to help cover a $30 million funding gap on Norfolk's light-rail project created by cost overruns.

As a former VDOT commissioner, Shucet knows there are dollars lying around that no one's tried to account for.

"We are failing the taxpayers in a way that's unforgiv able," Shucet told the group. "That's not what we're here to do. We're here to spend the money."

The money in question comes from federal grants that are funneled through VDOT and regional planning organizations for smaller city projects such as intersection improvements, turn lanes, traffic signals, sidewalks and safety improvements.

Balances occur if a project finishes under budget or when money is reserved for a project that ends up delayed or never gets built. Determining those balances is not a simple task, because multiple levels of government are involved in the allocation process and bookkeeping.

The planning groups - in this case, the transportation planning organization - decide how to spend the money and help oversee the projects. VDOT manages the money. And the individual cities manage the projects.

On many of these projects, the money is mingled with other funds from the state and the city.

"It becomes very complex, and no one individual agency can do this," said Adam Jack, VDOT assistant district administrator, adding, however, that his agency has to take the lead because it is responsible for the money.

In a way, the region is its own worst enemy when it comes to accounting for the money because it tends to split federal funding among its many localities. Then the money gets spread across lots of projects.

For instance, Jack said, 49 projects in Hampton Roads now are using federal stimulus money, compared with two in the Richmond area.

It's not clear why the exercise to find money has not happened in Hampton Roads before.

A Federal Highway Administration official who sits on the planning agency board has recommended for some time that it be done.

Eric Stringfield, VDOT's district planning manager, warned the planning group when the issue was raised last month that the task is time-consuming and that VDOT has limited resources.

VDOT Commissioner Whirley maintains that VDOT has always closed out the books on projects and reviewed ongoing budgets, but "now we're moving it up on the priority list."

"This has been done to a certain degree before, but I'm looking at it more holistically as a program," he said.

Whirley has set a target of late June for determining the fund balances.

The planning organization allocates about $40 million a year in federal grants, which is spread among about 50 projects throughout the region, said Farmer, the Hampton Roads planning organization director.

The Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, which allocates about $5 million annually, had an extra $7 million to spend last year as a result of a similar exercise.

"We put in some policies to avoid having this happen in the future," said Lloyd Robinson, administrator of the Fredericksburg organization. "We now have a use-it-or-lose-it rule."

The Richmond Area Metropolitan Planning Organization also developed a process for closing out projects more quickly after discovering an extra $5.7 million, said Barbara Nelson, transportation planner for the Richmond Metropolitan Planning Organization.

"We asked how we, as a region, can work with VDOT to do a better job to make sure our projects don't get into this position again," she said. "How did we get to a point where in this midsized region we had this many projects that were not closed out?"

Nelson said money was found dating to the 1990s.

Local cities are excited about the prospect of a windfall of sorts that could move more transportation projects forward. Several city transportation planners said they want any fund balances from projects within their city to remain in their city, before considering giving it to HRT for light rail.

"If somebody has money that needs to be obligated and can't be spent on another project," Shucet said, "we can spend every dollar up to $30 million."

[zephyp]

Good deal. Now I know where to send the bill for front end alignment caused by driving on shoddy roads...they are in bad shape up here in NOVA...

What really ticks me is paying a small fortune in taxes while driving on crappy roads and watching them cut essential services...I ask myself almost every day...what do they do with my money...yeah, I know - a rhetorical question....

They geeve it to guys like this...