where construction industry employment is down 15 percent, is expediting $708 million worth of already funded projects to help stimulate the local economy. And it has plans to borrow $325 million more through bond sales to pay for infrastructure improvements through a special voter-approved property tax, says Rachel E. Baum, the county’s finance director.
Sarasota County, Fla., too, which sits just north of hard-hit Lee County, is advancing a $300 million bond-borrowing plan, previously approved by voters, to improve roads and utilities, parks and recreation, and some city building projects such as fire stations. “[For the] work that we are putting out on the street [for bid], we are getting
a 25 percent reduction,” says Carolyn Eastwood, Sarasota County’s general manager for mobility. “One example: On a bid project two years ago for an intersection [improvement], we had three bidders. Recently, a similar project [had] 10 bidders, and they were 26 percent below estimate.” But if economic conditions continue to deteriorate, governments may have an in-
Bridging the Gap Miami’s mayor leads the push for federal funding to revamp the country’s aging infrastructure.
iami Mayor Manny Diaz has a fix for the slowing economy and the country’s aging infrastructure: a $1.6 trillion federally funded infrastructure repair and development program to rehab existing roads and bridges as well as to invest in public transportation. Diaz, who is currently president of the U.S. Council of Mayors, isn’t talking about a few road resurfacing projects or patching up a couple of bridges. He’s talking about an investment of the same magnitude as the federal spending for the U.S. Interstate Highway system
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back in the 1950s and 60s. “America is going to have to make a major investment in its infrastructure if we want to keep competing [in the world marketplace],” says Diaz, who has recently been peddling the plan in speeches across the country. Not only will the investment improve U.S. commerce, but it also will generate much-needed construction jobs, thereby stimulating the national economy, he says. Diaz says the federal government has gradually decreased its infrastructure expenditures over the years, and now 75 percent of all infrastructure expenses are being paid by local governments, with federal investment contributing less than 1 percent. In addition, the nation’s roads and bridges are aging, and many have not been updated in decades.The still-unexplained collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis last year is an
example of the hazards that result when cities fail to maintain infrastructure, he says. Many of the nation’s governors are joining Diaz and mayors across the country in their pursuit of federal financial aid. Chris Hoene, director of the Center for Policy and Research at the National League of Cities, a Washington, D.C.-based resource and advocacy organization, expects federal aid to states and cities to become one of the major issues lobbied for on Capitol Hill next year. Nick Johnson, director of the state fiscal project for the Washington, D.C.based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which, among other things, examines the short- and long-term impacts that proposed policies would have on the health of the economy and on the soundness of federal and state budgets, also expects the issue to elevate in importance, especially if the
economy doesn’t start showing signs of recovery soon. “I think the administration has not been particularly supportive of these ideas, but the debate is moving forward,” Johnson says. Johnson projects the odds are fairly good that relief will show up in a second economic stimulus plan that would offer infrastructure help and operating budget relief to state and local governments. Others are not as optimistic.“I expect the recession to be long-lasting and that infrastructure will be allowed to deteriorate and not be replaced,” says John Petersen, professor at the George Mason University School of Public Policy. “Unlike in the 20th century, the federal government will have no financial resources to provide,” Petersen adds.“It is a bleak outlook in my opinion. It amounts to a downsizing of America to fit the rapidly lowering expectations.”
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