Road money, railroad plan topics of RITA meeting

Funding for the Western Arkansas Regional Intermodal Transportation Authority (RITA) is still pending for 2013, though none of the financially supportive entities expect setbacks.

RITA board members addressed that as well as a statewide railroad improvement plan and passage of the half-cent statewide sales tax for highway infrastructure passed in November at the board’s Wednesday (Dec. 12) meeting.

Fort Smith Administrator Ray Gosack confirmed the city had renewed RITA participation for 2013, while Van Buren Mayor Bob Freeman and Sebastian County Judge David Hudson added that a vote for renewal would take place at the next meetings of the Van Buren City Council and Sebastian County Quorum Court, respectively.

RITA reported an ending balance of $23,895 through November. With 1 1/4 months remaining and monthly estimated operating expenses of $18,712, FY 2012 should close in the black.

RITA project manager Mat Pitsch was unsure what the exact amounts for 2013 would be, but noted that last year it was “around $50,000 each” from Fort Smith and Van Buren as well as Sebastian and Crawford counties.

In October the long-inactive Van Buren Public Facilities Board (PFB) contributed $50,000, which was lying dormant in an account, to RITA’s 2012 budget.

Also Tuesday, Pitsch reported on a recent meeting with other project managers in Arkansas. Pitsch said discussion turned to a statewide railroad improvement plan, and that “many other parts of the state are facing the issue of abandoned railroads.”

Pitsch said there are “more than 550 miles of abandoned railroad” in Arkansas, and that “it costs … twice as much to fix it (abandoned railroad) as it does to build new. They have real issues around the rest of this state with regard to that.”

Pitsch continued: “I appreciate those issues, but our issue, if we’re going to have a statewide railroad plan, is the development of new railroad. Things are going and things are happening here. We need new railroad to handle the extra capacity. I don’t want to turn a deaf ear on those dealing with abandonment, but a statewide railroad plan needs to develop both ends of the marketplace.”

On the topic of Arkansas highways, board members beamed at passage of the statewide half-cent sales tax extension passed by voters in November.

Hudson noted that of the tax initiatives, which came before voters in the U.S., “$2.8 billion were passed for all the states, and $1.3 billion of that is in Arkansas.”

“That is a very dramatic statement,” Hudson said, adding that “the largest single contract in the history of the state of Arkansas was recently let by the Arkansas Highway Department, and that project is one that is happening right here in our area: I-40 to Rogers Avenue.”

Gosack found it “unexpected” that “counties like Sebastian and Crawford, where there were no projects proposed for that statewide tax revenue, still supported the tax by at least the same margins as they did statewide.”

Sebastian and Crawford counties will receive none of the $1.548 billion in special project funding the tax will create. The central Arkansas area is estimated to receive $648 million in special project funding, and Northwest Arkansas could get $375 million.

However, through the city and county shares of revenue from the road tax, an estimated $26.36 million to Sebastian County and its cities, and an estimated $11.74 million to Crawford County and its cities.

“I think the message that we get out of that is that the residents of our two counties support investment in infrastructure, and for transportation infrastructure, they understand how important it is to economic development, to keeping businesses and industry in our region strong.”

Gosack continued: “They get the regional significance of that tax and what regional transportation systems are going to do for all of us.”