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TACIR News Release |
TACIR Contact: Bob Allen Research
Associate Phone: 615/253-3105 |
NOW APPROACH $22 BILLION
March 29 –
According to a new report released by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on
Intergovernmental Relations,
®
Transportation &
Utilities: $9.1 billion
®
Education: $5.2
billion
®
Health, Safety &
Welfare: $4.7 billion
®
Recreation &
Culture: $1.7 billion
®
Economic Development: $564 million
®
General Government: $374 million
Total $21.6 billion
Most Comprehensive Tally of Needs Ever:
The largest
increase was in the transportation and utilities category, which remains the
single largest overall. The increase
from $8.3 billion to $9.1 billion was mostly attributable to increased
needs reported by local government officials, but about a third of it was the
result of TACIR’s new reliance on the Department of
Transportation to supplement the inventory.
Transportation needs alone represent $8.1 billion (around
thirty-eight percent) of the total infrastructure needs. Dr. Harry Green, TACIR’s
executive director noted that
“with the
inclusion of projects from the state highway department, we now have the most
complete inventory in the project’s six-year history. Staff analysis indicates that the total need
could be as much as $24.6 billion, but the gap between our estimates and the
needs actually reported continues to shrink as the inventory improves.”
Major Factors Driving
This
project is the only source of statewide information on the condition of public
school buildings and what it would take to get them all in good or better
condition, and the news here is good:
According to local school officials, eighty-five percent of local public schools are now in good or
excellent condition. They estimate the
cost to put the remaining fifteen percent in good or better condition at one
billion dollars, which is
a $428 million drop from the cost reported in the previous inventory. They also report that more than half of all
school systems have sufficient space to house the teachers and classrooms
required by the smaller class-size standards imposed by the Education
Improvement Act (EIA) in the fall of 2001.
TACIR estimates the cost of the remaining classrooms needed to house these
teachers at just over $800 million statewide, which is also a huge drop
(about forty percent or $530 million)
from the cost estimate in TACIR’s last report.
Representative Randy Rinks, TACIR’s chairman, had this to say about the
declining costs:
“It is clear from the staff’s
analysis that school officials have used the funding increases provided by the
General Assembly wisely. Overall, school
conditions are continuing to improve, and local governments have made
substantial progress toward providing the classroom space they need because of
the EIA. However, high growth systems
are still facing challenges. Staff
analysis indicates that more than $960
billion is needed for enrollment growth and replacement schools.”
Despite
these declines, the education category had the second largest increase overall,
primarily because of increased needs at the state’s public colleges and
universities. Total education infrastructure
needs increased from $4.8 billion to $5.2 billion (about six percent)
since the last report. Needs at the
state’s public post-secondary schools grew $289
million (about twenty-four percent) since the last report. Enrollment growth from the lottery
scholarships should be expected to cause those needs to continue to grow.
Other Highlights from the Report
·
Health, Safety, and welfare at $4.7 billion is the third largest cost category
and accounts for nearly twenty-two percent of the state’s public infrastructure
needs. Water and Wastewater needs alone total
nearly $3.0 billion or nearly fourteen percent of the grand total and
nearly sixty-four percent of this one category. Water and Wastewater, Transportation, and Local Public Education combined represent more than two
thirds of total reported needs.
·
The
economic development category, which
includes business district and industrial site and park development,
experienced the largest percentage change as costs declined by $314 million or thirty-six percent from
the 2001 report. Most of this decline
resulted from the restructuring of a single project in one county.
·
The largest
infrastructure needs are in counties with the largest populations
and the largest population gains. Eight of the ten counties reporting
the greatest need for infrastructure improvements were among the top ten for
population. In dollar terms, the greatest
concentrations of need are in four major metropolitan counties and the rapidly
growing counties surrounding Davidson.
The full report can be found on TACIR’s web site at http://www.state.tn.us/tacir/infrastructure.htm.
TACIR
TACIR’s mission is to serve
as a forum for the discussion and resolution of intergovernmental problems;
provide high quality research support
to state and local government officials in order to improve the overall quality
of government in
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