CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A key member of the Jim Justice administration claims the Patrick Morrisey administration doesn’t have all the facts on state Department of Transportation operations and finances.
Former Justice administration chief-of-staff Brian Abraham said Morrisey’s description of DOT operations is misinformed and similar to claims he made about an impending budget deficit.
“It almost seems like the $400 million hole in the bucket 2.0,” Abraham said Tuesday on MetroNews “Talkline.” “We heard the state was broke just five months ago, and now we’re going to end the year with probably a $200 million surplus.”
Abraham said the Justice administration’s focus on maintenance began in 2019 when then-governor Justice released Tom Smith, the former Secretary of Transportation/Commissioner of Highways. Abraham said the shift was made under intense pressure from the public to address the failing roads and bridges across the state.
“To say there is going to be a pivot because there’s an inference there was neglect is just wholly without merit,” Abraham said. “Again, I suspect someone in leadership at DOH must not be giving Governor Morrisey the full picture, or they don’t know how state finances work.”
From 2019 to the end of the Justice administration, Abraham estimated a little more than $1 billion was invested into maintenance across the state. A small portion of the funds came from the Roads to Prosperity program, while about $900 was approved by the legislature and signed into law by the governor.
“When, in fact, over the last six years, almost $900 million of surplus money in West Virginia was dedicated to secondary road maintenance,” Abraham said. “And that was Governor Justice working with the legislature, and in many cases those bills that appropriated that money specifically required that money to go to secondary roads.”
The description of the current status of the Roads to Prosperity bond by Morrisey is not stated correctly, according to Abraham. First, he said the funds were supposed to be allocated and used when the bond was approved and then paid back over time. The program included increases in tolls that pay down the bond and provide some maintenance and repair money. Since voters approved the program in 2017, toll revenues have exceeded budget.
“The source of those funds to pay that bond debt is coming from the tolls that were created and raised during the Roads to Prosperity vote,” Abraham said. “So interestingly, the majority of that debt is being paid by out-of-state drivers and truckers paying tolls every day.”
Abraham said they have been working with several DOH officials about major projects to be funded in the future, and he was surprised by the statements made by Morrisey during the Bridgeport press event. He went on to say the maintenance work Justice directed to be done is very well documented, and it is possible Governor Morrisey has been given bad information.
“The vast majority of that is paid from Washington, D.C., with small matches from the state,” Abraham said. “That’s a vast majority of our road system and how commerce is transacted across our state, so I hope they reach out to us and we don’t battle by press conferences.”