Infrastructure Projects

Fighting over budget in state legislatures and Congress has left public infrastructure in bad shape. Maintenance is one part of this issue, but in the main maintenance dollars are available to keep infrastructure healthy and in reasonable shape. However, the larger issue is reshaping or replacing infrastructure that has outlived its usefulness. Bridges in the wrong place as traffic patterns shift to other areas. Highways needing one or two lanes added to carry increased traffic loads. New technology that shifts use patterns of once standard infrastructure is yet another cause for infrastructure replacement or vast redesign.

Dams, power grid expansion, technology adoptions in power grids, stormwater management systems, are yet other examples of infrastructure demands. Population growth, industrial relocations or creations, demand yet other changes to our infrastructure.

People move households. Whether those moves are caused by career changes, retirement, health, or whimsy is not the concern. Population shifts are the point and infrastructure must be ready or able to change to properly support the added demands of population growth in a region.

The pandemic caused infrastructure use patterns to change. Working from home is the prime example. Highway systems, public transit, and wear and tear on these systems declined greatly. A question looms whether work from home will continue to be a standard of office routines. If it continues, office structure demand will decline, traffic patterns will change, and flow rates will be altered. Wear and tear on infrastructure will be a keen consideration in budget battles of public agencies.

Corporations invest in facilities and infrastructure on their own property. However, they rely on the public to supply needed infrastructure for their success in most cases. These include streets, sanitation, water and sewer, power grid, police and fire services, bridges, stormwater management, and an educated public to provide a talented labor pool. They do not pay for these elements of infrastructure. Yes, they pay local property taxes that defray the cost to the public, but the primary funding responsibility falls on the public. Is your municipality and county investing enough in this infrastructure to attract new employers to your region? Is your area retaining its major employers?

Infrastructure is a critical component of economic stability, growth, and innovation. Who pays for it is generally shared by public and private sources. How it is paid for has options: property taxes, income taxes, public revenue bonds, excise taxes and a host of others. Corporate income tax rates have been lowered greatly in recent years. This move has starved both local and national governments for investment dollars in infrastructure. Corporate taxes will need to be increased to help government afford the investment.  Revenue bonds are a healthy choice to employ now. Properly designed and needed infrastructure will pay for their own creation over time by increased economic activity. Taxing authority makes this possible to guarantee bond buyers will be repaid.

Quality of life in a region makes it attractive in selecting household location. The same is true for employers choosing sites for their placement and long term investment. Infrastructure is needed for both the public and the corporate citizens of a community. It is up to the community to make intelligent choices if the quality of life is present in the first place and retained for the long term.

Investing federal dollars in infrastructure is a critical need now. Support such efforts. Our needs have shifted and make infrastructure changes a necessity. Think internet, electronic communications and financial systems, commuting patterns and public use demands. The pace of change has quickened. Adaption to those changes has slowed.

Let’s build better for a healthier, sustainable future. For us all!

April 1, 2021