With a little more than two months before Bell County chooses who will represent them in District 55, candidates Sam Murphey and Ralph Sheffield discussed what this means to local voters. Breaking down the plan, here are the proposals and what the candidates said about them. The plan would:
1) Create a finance corporation that will use public, Texas-based investment funds such as the teacher retirement system to invest directly in transportation projects.
Murphey said this means bigger government.
“I don’t know why we need more bureaucracy. That means more government. I’m not for that.”
Sheffield disagrees.
“It’s not a bad idea to create a financial corporation to see how funds can be invested there for transportation needs. As long as they can get the same return in Texas as they can get elsewhere, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
2) Put into effect $6.5 million in bonds approved by voters in 2003 and 2007. Both candidates allied themselves with state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay. In April, Fraser told the Telegram that TxDOT had “the ability to sell bonds, which would give them sufficient money,” to widen Interstate 35 through northern Bell County.
Sheffield said it’s time to act. “We need to use that resource . . . voters have spoken, let’s get something done with our highways.”
Murphey said he would work with Fraser in the spirit of bipartisanship. Putting these bonds to work building highways is long overdue, he said.
“I agree with Fraser. There’s more than enough money to fix I-35 and Loop 363 in Bell County. The funding authority is there. They ought to start selling bonds right away,” Murphey said.
3) No longer fund the Department of Public Safety operating budget with gas tax money; instead funds would come out of the state’s general revenue fund. According to The , this could create up to $600 million in revenue for road construction.
Currently the gas tax money dedicated to TxDot is diverted to DPS to fund its budget.
Murphey and Sheffield struck a similar chord on this one.
Murphey believes, “Wherever the gas tax is dedicated for is where it should go.”
And Sheffield said, “It makes a lot of sense to quit diverting gas tax money to them (DPS) and take it out of the general tax revenue fund.”
The letter to Ms. Delisi - also signed by House Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst - calls for a board meeting Friday to discuss a bond sale in September.
