State Sen. Tom O’Mara pressed state transportation officials this week to boost funding for local roads and bridges, urging an additional $250 million investment through the state’s Consolidated Highway Improvement Program, known as CHIPS.
Speaking during a legislative budget hearing on Tuesday, O’Mara questioned Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez about the need for increased support for towns and counties that maintain local infrastructure.
O’Mara said funding for several key local programs — including CHIPS, the Winter Recovery Program, State Touring Routes and PAVE — remains flat in the proposed budget.
“I’d be remiss to not bring up CHIPS, as I do every year,” O’Mara said. “Our town and county highway associations are again requesting an additional $250 million to local roads.”
While he noted the programs were kept level this year instead of being reduced, as has happened in past budgets, O’Mara argued that flat funding fails to keep pace with rising costs.
“You know, our local roads, our local communities have faced the same inflationary pressures as the state projects have,” he said, pointing out that state-level transportation projects received increases last year to account for inflation. “So we are looking for an increase in those, and I would hope that we’d be able to get your support with the administration and the negotiations going on for the need for that.”
O’Mara also suggested consolidating the various local aid programs into a single funding stream to simplify administration and distribute money through a consistent formula, similar to CHIPS.
In response, Dominguez said decisions about creating or restructuring programs rest with lawmakers and the governor’s office, noting that the DOT’s role is to administer whatever funding the Legislature approves.
“I would never presume the prerogative of the Legislature on legislative-created programs,” Dominguez said. “The state DOT does administer all of them, but beyond that, we’re trying to encourage everybody to take advantage of them. These dollars are unique, they are valued, and they should be used.”
CHIPS funding is a major source of state aid for local governments, helping pay for paving, bridge repairs and other infrastructure projects maintained by towns, villages and counties. Local highway officials have long argued that additional funding is needed to keep up with aging roads and rising construction costs.
Budget negotiations between the Legislature and the governor are ongoing.
