Public comments have been positive overall for the current 18 Lake Area transportation projects included in the current priority list the Missouri Department of Transportation compiled if voters pass the Constitutional Amendment 7 ballot initiative in the Aug. 5 primary election.
Travis Koestner, MoDOT assistant engineer for the department's central district that includes the Lake of the Ozarks area, said they have received a few hundred comments overall during the statewide public comment period that runs through July 3.
"(Through June 25) we have received a few hundred public comments between online, hand-written comments and in speaking of the public at these forums," Koestner said during the most recent public forum discussing the current transportation project priority list from MoDOT held Wednesday in Osage Beach. "For our (central) district, I have read about 100 public comments. I'm sure we'll receive more before July 3 when the public comment period ends, and we are reading and listening to every one that comes in."
The Constitutional Amendment 7 ballot question will ask voters to approve a three-quarters of one cent sales tax increase for a period of 10 years to pay for the transportation projects that make it onto MoDOT's finalized list.
Under the terms of the legislation that created the ballot question, MoDOT must prepare the list and present it to voters well ahead of the election. Then, if voters approve, MoDOT uses the revenue garnered from the sales tax increase only to complete the listed projects.
MoDOT officials have spent the few months working with five local planning partners, including the Lake of the Ozarks Council of Local Governments (LOCLG) in its central district - one of seven in the state - to highlight its priority transportation projects.
Of the projects that survived was the one given the highest priority by the LOLCG when it prepared the list earlier this spring: a center turn lane for Highway 52 from the Morgan County Fairgrounds to Highway 5 in Versailles. However, the second and third highest priority projects on LOCLG's list - the completion of Highway 242 from Lake Ozark to Sunrise Beach and the construction of a center turn lane for Highway 5 through Laurie - did not survive the cuts.
"One of the biggest transportation projects we have currently received feedback on (since the public comment period has opened) has been not including the (realignment project and completion project of Highway 242) Routes MM/TT in Camden County," said Andy Draper, LOCLG regional planner. "It was currently ranked No. 2 on our local priority list, and had been ranked No. 1 before."
Draper said LOCLG had tried to secure Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant funding in the past to help complete this project and also again within the last few months. However, Draper said MoDOT had been preparing for its current priority lists in hopes to place Amendment 7 on the ballot for voters, and MoDOT also paused its cost-share program and other funding distributions because of this process.
"To receive the TIGER grant, MoDOT would have to sign off on it," he said. "Since they have been dealing with this current process, it has not moved forward."
Draper said he has also heard citizens express disappointment in additional projects, such the interchange improvements at Highway 54 and Route FF near Opies Transport, Inc. in Eldon and improvements to the Rock Island Trail, not making the list. Yet, he said citizens overall are positive about the current priority projects listed, and he knows there may be some changes when MoDOT comes back to discuss comments with local officials, including LOCLG representatives before presenting the final list to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission at its July 9 meeting.
"We will circle back around and meet with those planning groups again within the next week, taking comments from them and sharing the ones we received," Koestner said. "It is a challenge to prioritize these projects and look at the fiscal constraints we have. Once the final list is approved, that is what we have to be accountable to in delivering the transportation projects. However, we are confident about the projects we have discussed, and if there are projects that the public feels strongly about including that are not currently on the list, we will have to look at other projects that could come off the list and/or be replaced. That may happen with a few projects."
Funding has been another concern citizens have expressed to MoDOT officials.
"When I have spoke to citizens at socials and other meetings, people have asked about the money collected (from the 3/4-cent sales tax if Amendment 7 passes) and if it will go directly to the projects or if it will be diverted somewhere else," said Bob Lynch, area engineer within MoDOT's central district for the Lake Area region. "It is a constitutional amendment and that money goes directly to the projects and back to the cities and counties. ... It doesn't go through the legislators; it goes right back into the special transportation fund to secure it to go toward these projects."
MoDOT estimates that if the ballot question passes the sales tax increase will garner approximately $5.4 billion in new revenue over the next 10 years, Lynch said. He explained that 90 percent, approximately $486 million a year, would go directly to fund the final priority transportation projects approved by the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. Ten percent of the new revenue would also be split 50-50 each year, with 5 percent going to cities and 5 percent going to counties for use in additional transportation projects.
"Roughly $27 million each year (over the 10-year period) would be distributed to the counties, using the same formula we use to distribute the money to counties from the gas tax, which is based on land evaluation and roadway mileage," Lynch said. "That means Morgan County would receive roughly $315,000 per year or $3.5 million over the next 10 years. That money the county could use for its own transportation needs and projects that did not make the list."
Morgan County Eastern District Commissioner Rodney Schad said Wednesday that there are several low water slab and crossing areas that need improvements and additional bridge projects within the county that need attention. This money would go toward Morgan County's road aid trust fund and could go to completing many of these projects.
"If Amendment 7 passes, that 5 percent we receive could allow us to do about three of these road projects a year," he said.
Under the terms of the legislation, the tax increase will not apply to purchases of food and drugs. However, if voters give it the go ahead, the tax increase will begin Jan. 1, 2015 and automatically end Dec. 31, 2025, unless voters approve an extension it at that time. During the time the sales tax increase is in effect, the state is prohibited from increasing the tax on gasoline and/or other motor fuels and from building toll roads within the state's borders.
Members of the public now have until Thursday, July 3 to register their comments on the proposed projects. The entire list of projects, for MoDOT's Central District and statewide can be viewed by logging onto MoDOT's website at www.modot.org/movingforward and following the posted instructions. Or, contact MoDOT directly by calling 1-888-ASK-MODOT (1-888-275-6636).
Ceil Abbott contributed to this article.