Hocker questions state budget priorities

By Sam Harvey
Staff Reporter

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s proposed operating budget for the 2007 Fiscal Year shows a modest 5.7-percent growth, from last year to this. But local Rep. Gerald Hocker (38th District) suggested in recent weeks that he wasn’t holding out much hope for a single-digit spending increase, by the time state legislators finished with her proposed budget.

“We had single-digit growth last year,” Hocker admitted. “But we had double-digit growth for several years before that, and it looks like that’s where we’re headed again.”

He seemed somewhat displeased with that development, but to an even greater extent voiced concern regarding the state’s spending priorities. “All you’re hearing now is ‘How can we raise this money?’” Hocker said. “I question whether we’re spending on the right things.”

He recognized that some patches to the leaks would be inevitable, but once again lamented opportunities lost to short-sightedness. “Developers are willing to contribute, but look at the millions of dollars we’ve lost,” he said. “And the taxpayers can’t afford to play catch-up.”

If there were any surpluses, he said, he would like to see them go toward fixing the prison system. “We’ve really let (Department of Corrections Commissioner) Stan Taylor down,” Hocker said. “You can’t just look at the top and say, ‘He’s the problem.’ He doesn’t even have the funding to keep employees.

“We need to be rating our needs,” Hocker said.

He noted the continuing capital shortfall at the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT). “Last year, DelDOT put more projects on the books for Sussex County than ever before in history — and we can’t get the funding,” Hocker griped. However, with electric rates poised to impact taxpayers, he suggested this might not be the year to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund.

DelDOT is still waiting on new funding streams and implementation of new revenue generators and start closing a $2.7-billion gap between approved projects and available funds.

At the department, spokesman Darrel Cole said Gov. Ruth Ann Minner had passed along all of the DelDOT’s funding requests intact. “She approved what they submitted,” he said.

No personnel would be affected, Cole assured the public — but the department was moving forward under the premise that there would be no new revenues on the capital side, at least this year.

“So the focus was on keeping the roads safe, making sure our core business is maintained,” he said. “Where we’re suffering is funding the capital projects. On many of them, we’re moving forward (through design) — we just don’t have, in the bank, money for construction.”

From the Office of Management and Budget Web site, at www.state.de.us/budget, Minner has passed along a $364 million capital transportation budget. That money “supports a core transportation program, ensures the state avoids lapsing federal formula funding, and provides approximately $100 million in Transportation Trust Fund cash for projects to be prioritized…”

Other highlights on the capital side:

• $68 million for the road system. Improvements along I-95 and “various statewide improvements to arterial and collector roadways, bridges, rail crossing safety and safety improvement.”

• $21.6 million for grants and allocations. This supports the Community Transportation Fund (better know for its primary component, Municipal Street Aid).

• $2.7 million for the transit system. Vehicle purchases — and “expansion of services in Sussex County.”

• $25.2 million for support system, for preservation of transit facilities, technology upgrades and equipment replacement.