A twentyfold increase in administration fees by the Arizona Department of Transportation may threaten Renaissance on Route 66 projects planned by the city of Winslow, according to the Arizona Journal.
Winslow city councilors discussed the problem this week. Renaissance projects include beautifying and improving safety on Route 66 through town and a performance plaza at the Standin’ on a Corner Park area.
The fee increase by ADOT clearly was unexpected:
City Manager Stephen Pauken told the council that the State of Arizona has required ADOT to charge an administration fee for administration of projects that the city used to do, and has raised those fees from $5,000 to $100,000.
He noted that because of this and other actions by the state, the Renaissance projects planned 10 years ago might not be possible. He also stated that something needs to be done to change this.
I’ve found no other stories in the media so far that mentions this change in ADOT’s fee schedule. A $95,000 increase may not be much of a deal for a city such as Phoenix, but it’s a big problem for small towns such as Winslow.
I suspect this change was some sort of underhanded way for Arizona lawmakers to keep a “no new taxes” pledge, by raising fees instead. While technically correct, such tactics are disingenuous. And this sort of thing was done before in Illinois in the 1990s.
(Artist’s rendering by Woodson Engineering of the proposed performance plaza at Standin’ on a Corner Park in Winslow, Arizona)
Hmmm…hard to know if one should be for it or against it, when you don’t know what it is or why.
The sentence in the quite, “to charge an administration fee for administration of projects that the city used to do”, it sounds like the State is going to start charging for work that it is doing for the city, that the city used to do itself. That does not seem unreasonable, as far as it goes.
But what we don’t know is WHAT is being administered, and why the State is doing the work Vs. the City.
Again, tough to form an opinion without more facts, but the potentially negative impact on Winslow’s Route 66 plans is certainly unfortunate.