Half of these requests were granted funding. Sometimes, other projects that are necessary to improve public safety are moved down the list. Records show. These earmark requests have been a long-standing practice in the Legislature. They were made between 2012-2018, while top legislators sharply criticized fiscal and operational management at Mississippi Department of Transportation. Recent years have seen attempts to remove the department’s spending authority due to scrutiny of its management. These requests are not part of the normal road-funding process. This includes allocations from MDOT’s approximately $1 billion annual budget. Legislators have very little control over these special requests. Also, legislators can request specific projects through bond bills. However, those projects are funded with bond proceeds and not MDOT’s regular budget. MDOT’s internal auditors deemed many special projects unnecessary, according to records obtained by open-records request. According to Mississippi Today, officials from the department said that fulfilling these requests sometimes delayed other projects that were considered more important due to public safety concerns. A frontage road project, which would connect a gated community where Lt. Governor. Tate Reeves, who lives in Rankin County, would connect to a nearby road that has a traffic light. According to county records, Josh Harkins (R-Flowood) also owns a house within the subdivision. However, Harkins claims that he has moved out of the home. Reeves’ brother Todd Reeves also owns a house in the same neighborhood, according to records. Geoff Pender, of The Clarion-Ledger reported that the $2 million frontage-road project would be funded by federal and state funds. This would complete 2014 and 2015 special legislative requests for widening state Highway 25/Lakeland Drive. Melinda McGrath was on Tuesday out of state and was unable to give an interview. On Monday, however, she said to the Clarion-Ledger that her agency was under “pressure… from Senate side” to build the road in Reeves’ neighbourhood. Reeves spokeswoman Laura Hipp declined to speak with Reeves about the frontage road but said that the city of Flowood had consulted MDOT to plan it. According to Hipp, special-project requests were born out of frustration among lawmakers about the way MDOT prioritizes state projects. Hipp stated in a statement to Mississippi Today that “when community leaders tell senators that they can’t get road needs addressed or the agency isn’t listening, then you’re going to have legislators make those local requests a priority through the appropriations process for MDOT.” “At the end, legislators have a constitutional obligation to spend the people’s money. The Legislature isn’t the first to direct agencies how to allocate their appropriation. Nathan Wells, Gunn’s chief-of staff, stated that the speaker prefers to leave the task of vetting projects to his committee chairs rather than get into the details of each project. He doesn’t believe it is wrong for the Legislature say “These projects are important” as part of the process of appropriations. Wells stated that he believes the vast majority are good and valid projects, even though they are not on MDOT’s priority list. Mississippi Today compiles a list of all 50 legislative request made since 2012. It asks MDOT whether the requested projects were deemed necessary, if the request was granted, what the cost would be, and whether it would delay safety projects that are more important. MDOT has spent at least 75 million dollars on lawmakers’ projects since 2012. The cost estimates for many legislative requests received since 2012 were not provided, so the total amount of legislative requests is more than $163 million. Eleven of the eleven requests were for higher priority safety projects. MDOT didn’t provide any information on who made these requests. They range in scope and scale. This included the phase for building the $2 million frontage road to the Lt. Governor. Reeves’ neighborhood. MDOT funded the project and spent $43.5 million. * MDOT was asked by Lafayette County to pay $3 million in 2015 for the cost of extending West Oxford Loop to College Hill Road. This project is currently being constructed. * MDOT was asked to provide $4.25 million in 2015 and 2016 to the quasi-governmental East Metropolitan Corridor Commission. This commission is constructing a thoroughfare connecting Lakeland Drive in Flowood with I-20 in Brandon. MDOT granted both requests and assisted the commission to obtain federal funds. MDOT responded to Mississippi Today by telling them that spending money on this project would delay safety priority projects, and was not in MDOT’s budget. MDOT has been the target of numerous budget cuts in recent years. This has made it necessary for the agency to concentrate on maintenance and not new building. McGrath, MDOT’s executive director, explained the dire situation to legislators in an August 2017 hearing. He stated that the department will only be able pay for a small portion of the repairs it needs if current funding trends continue. While lawmakers continued to ask MDOT for earmarks in August 2017, top legislators led by Reeves have scathingly criticized the agency’s leadership and raised concerns about the efficiency of the department, which is managed by the three-member elected Mississippi Transportation Commission. Reeves, Gunn and others hosted several hearings in the fall 2016 to examine MDOT’s spending. They asked MDOT officials about agency travel, its vehicle fleet size and why certain projects were not completed. Reeves introduced a broad infrastructure funding reform bill during the 2018 legislative session that would have stripped MDOT of its spending authority of hundreds and millions of dollars each year. This proposal caused a furious debate among rank-and-file members of both the Senate, House, and Senate. Robert Johnson, a former chair of the House Transportation Committee believes that some legislative projects met legitimate needs, but is worried about how many of them were pushed to higher-need projects. “Some of these rural areas may have been sitting on their projects for eight, nine, or ten years,” Johnson said. Johnson stated that the project, which had been prioritised by MDOT experts, was now being bumped. “I don’t think that’s OK, especially when you consider the revenue restrictions we have.” Contributing by Bobby Harrison