Road Services Jeopardized if Proposed Iowa DOT Budget Cut Prevails

Iowa’s Department of Transportation, with a $352 million operational budget, is making do with 2,699 employees — fewest in its 42-year history.

And yet, in the wake of last year’s 10 cents-per-gallon fuel tax increase, the Republican-controlled State House voted to remove $9.7 million, nearly 3%, from IDOT’s budget.

The Democratic-controlled State Senate didn’t concur, so a conference committee is meeting this week in hopes of resolving the issue.

If the House prevails, IDOT would be forced to dismiss 57 employees, much to the consternation of its director since 2011, Paul Trombino.

“We have been very good stewards of Iowa’s dollars,” Trombino told Transport Topics. “We have reduced our staffing level every year since I’ve been here for a total of 409 positions, 65 in this fiscal year. We’re at the lowest staffing level ever, but I believe we’re actually delivering more products and services than we ever have. All we’re asking is to be funded at that level. It doesn’t come at the cost of infrastructure.

Cutting those positions would jeopardize our delivery of such services as winter maintenance. We have 9,400 miles that we maintain every winter. I just don’t understand why the Legislature would want to hurt the citizens of the state and our economy. I don’t think people want to see a reduced service level.”

Trombino explained that all of the revenue from the fuel-tax hike goes to IDOT’s five-year, $3.5 billion construction budget, not to salaries.

In addition to the Senate, IDOT has the support of Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, the nation’s longest-serving chief executive, who put the $9.7 million in his budget.

“I’m still optimistic that it’s going to get resolved [to IDOT’s satisfaction],” Trombino said. “The department has built a lot of trust over the years, and whenever we’ve asked for dollars because of a specific need, the Legislature has delivered. I’ll give you a recent example. Two years ago, we needed salt and they appropriated $7.3 million right away. That probably saved us $10 million to $15 million by buying the salt at a good time of the year.”