The Importance of Preventative Maintenance

This morning, as I was doing emergency field repairs on a piece of equipment, I was cussing myself for not having taken care of the problem when I had time instead of doing it in the middle of a field in the July heat. In short, I was guilty of not doing what wise people call “preventive maintenance,” better known to my mother as, “a stitch in time saves nine.” I soon began to look at things in the broader picture, partly because I was tired of cussing myself and partly to feel smug about other people in the same boat. Then, I began to move the weight further off my shoulders and onto those of everyone’s favorite whipping boy, the government, and got to thinking about how Montana’s infrastructure is falling down about our ears because of the same lack of preventive maintenance.

And what is this thing called “infrastructure?” It is a whole bunch of unglamorous physical stuff that we use every day, don’t think about much, and, when it’s in good shape, keeps the economy going. Highways and bridges are the most visible part of it, but public buildings like schools, drinking water systems, wastewater treatment, solid waste disposal, dams and irrigation canals, state parks and recreation facilities are all important, too. When they fall apart, so does the economy.

Every four years an outfit called the American Society of Civil Engineers puts out a report on the state of American infrastructure, nationally and by state. Their report is not a rosy one, giving the nation a grade of D+ and Montana a grade of C-. In Montana we do best at solid waste disposal (B-) and worst at keeping schools in good repair (D-). You can read the report at: infrastructurereportcard.org/montana/montana-overview. I don’t remember how many millions of dollars in needed total infrastructure repair costs face Montana, but the $400 million dollars asked for by the Governor was just a drop in the bucket. Notwithstanding the dire need for repairs, the legislature whittled that down to $150 million, and then was unable to pass even that insufficient amount. Part of the difficulty was that there were those who didn’t want to pay to fix things by borrowing money through bonding but to use Montana’s cash reserves to fund the projects. Even with interest rates at historically low levels and Montana’s excellent credit rating, they wanted to do what every sane economist will tell you not to do, which is spend down your assets on capital repair. Now I suspect they may have had other reasons for spending the taxpayers’ cash on hand instead of bonding, but the rationale given was the stock phrase, “we don’t want to put the burden of paying this back on our children and grandchildren”.

That’s noble of them, but it’s the equivalent of telling the kids you’ll give them your car in five years, and then handing them a bucket of bolts because you didn’t have the time, inclination or money to keep it in good shape. “It’s all yours kid, just don’t go over 30.” “Thanks, Pop, but I’ve decided it would be cheaper to buy a new car than to repair that one.”

That’s exactly what happens with crumbling infrastructure, it becomes cheaper—after the fact—to build new than to fix it. Cheaper still, of course, is to not let it deteriorate in the first place. And speaking of a bucket of bolts, infrastructure in disrepair--in this case, bad roads--cost Montanans between $292 to $484 a year in vehicle repair costs, so we pay one way or another.

As far as “not placing the burden on our kids” is concerned, they will get to enjoy a burden either way, by inheriting a bucket of bolts or paying for a new machine because the folks didn’t feel like paying to keep the state infrastructure in good shape, so it’s not that much of a favor, is it? That’s what happens when ideology trumps rationality.

Jim Elliott served 16 years in the Montana Legislature as a state representative and state senator. He lives on his ranch in Trout Creek.