Adjust cost to size of town for bridges

The Gazette reported that two aging Bertram bridges, despite scoring high on Iowa Department of Transportation's replacement score formula, would not be replaced (“Bridge funds not always welcome,” July 6). The reason given was that Bertram, like five other small Iowa towns offered bridge funding, couldn't afford the 20 percent cost-sharing requirement.

It is inherently unfair for Iowa to require the same cost sharing for a town of 300 as it does for a city of 100,000. With less than $120,000 in annual tax revenue, Bertram never will be able to afford 20 percent of these expensive and necessary bridge replacements. The net effect of the state's 20 percent cost-sharing formula is to condemn small towns such as Bertram and Ely to second-class status, while those cities with larger tax bases get the infrastructure improvements they require.

Iowa should have a sliding cost-sharing scale for towns such as Bertram so that our worst bridges are replaced, whether they are in small towns or not.

Ken Rizer

Cedar Rapids

candidate, House District 68