JFAC is jumping right into agency budget hearings, with the Idaho Transportation Department up this morning. With a couple inches of snow on the ground and slick conditions in Boise, Director Brian Ness started by telling the lawmakers, “I’ll have you know we’re taking care of the roads, and it’s good to see that everyone was able to get in today.”

ITD Board Chairman Jerry Whitehead thanked the lawmakers “for the increase we had in funding. As Brian will tell you today, we put that to good use.”

Ness told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that even as more projects were funded, “We are still continuing to look for ways to be more efficient.” Since he started at ITD, he said, the workforce there has been cut by 135 positions. “This year we are requesting to reduce our workforce by an additional 20 positions, taking our total reductions to 155,” he said. “This reduction is made possible by ITD’s increased efficiency, and is reflected in the governor’s recommendation.”

The total-funds recommendation for ITD comes to $707.7 million. That includes $348.3 million in state funds, $354.8 million in federal funds, and $4.6 million in other funds, including local matching funds and fees charged to other agencies. The figure includes $58 million in debt service, on top of a $649.6 million appropriation, which is a 30.8 increase from last year's original appropriation; however, ITD is not requesting any increase in state funds, beyond the revenue increases lawmakers approved last year in gas taxes and fees.

Ness said the federal highway funding bill signed into law in December, the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act” or FAST, is a five-year law that runs through 2020. “ITD can now safely engage in long-term planning,” he said. “We no longer have to plan based on the short-term extensions of the previous bill.”