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No fuel tax increase likely, road program advocate says Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008 By Doug Thompson Stephens Media ROGERS - The head of a group that advocates highway improvements said Tuesday lawmakers next year likely will refer a new highway program to voters that won't include higher fuel taxes. The days of raising fuel taxes to help pay for road improvements are over, said Johnnie Bolin, executive director of the Arkansas Good Roads Council. The council supports a road program for the 2010 general election ballot. Fuel tax increases have been a staple in past road programs. "I don't think either Congress or the Legislature would have the intestinal fortitude to raise fuel taxes or put such a raise on the ballot in the days of $4 (per gallon) fuel," Bolin said in an interview after his speech to the Rogers Rotary Club. Alternatives could include tolls, which have not been popular but could be looked at again in light of fuel prices, he said. "The governor opposed tolls, but all options are on the table," Bolin said. Tolls would not generate all of the funding needed but would generate a significant amount, Bolin said. Another option, he said, could be a miles-driven tax similar to a program Oregon is considering. That state is testing a system that monitors drivers electronically. In theory, the system could keep track of variables such as miles driven in-state and out-of-state and encourage conservation, according to federal descriptions of the program. Gov. Mike Beebe pushed a severance tax increase through a special legislative session this spring which his administration estimates will eventually raise about $100 million a year. The increase goes into effect Jan. 1, and the bulk the new revenue is earmarked for state and local road construction. Beebe spokesman Zac Wright said the governor hasn't speculated on what legislative initiatives are being discussed privately among legislators. "The governor would be open to using tolls for funding new construction but would be against adding tolls to pay for improvements on roads that are already there," Wright said. "He has speculated that one funding possibility might be adding lanes for motorists who choose to pay tolls." Arkansas highway officials have estimated the state's road needs at more than $20 billion over the next decade, an increase over earlier highway department estimates of $19 billion, which had to be adjusted due to rising construction costs, Bolin said. Fuel tax revenue has been flat for several years and the state increasingly has concentrated on the interstate system, Bolin said. Money for state highways will shrink as the cost of maintaining interstate highways grows unless the state passes a road program, he said. The size of the state highway network will not grow under current conditions and will even begin to shrink, Bolin said. "We're going to see regional partnerships in which the highway department will agree to widen and improve a road or intersection, but then return it to the city or county for them to pay the maintenance," Bolin said. Over time, that would significantly reduce the size of the 16,400-mile state highway system, the 12th largest in terms of miles in the country, according to highway department figures. |
