Tag: roads

House Budget head unveils road and bridge funding proposal as part of F.Y. ’20 budget

The Missouri House’s Budget Committee Chairman has unveiled his plan for paying for road and bridge work in the state, in place of the plan proposed by Governor Mike Parson (R) in January.

House Budget Committee Chairman Kip Kendrick (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Cody Smith’s (R-Carthage) plan is to use a $100-million from the state’s General Revenue Fund to support the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), which is the Department of Transportation’s plan for road and bridge improvements for the coming years.

Parson’s plan called for using $351-million in bonds to replace or repair 250 bridges throughout Missouri.  The bonding would have been paid back with about $30-million from the state’s General Revenue fund for 15 years.

Smith said it is important to focus on creating a plan that would funds transportation infrastructure but not put the state further into debt.

“We spend hundreds of millions of dollars in debt service every year … when we have an opportunity to make a similar impact on the bridges that have been identified as in need of repair over the course of four years and thereby save the state $100-million over 15 years I think we out to try to take that opportunity,” said Smith.

The Department has paid more than $700-million in debt payments in the last two years, and its average payment is $313-million a year.

Smith proposes spending $100-million in general revenue on roads and bridges in the next four years’ budgets or more.  That would be subject to the appropriation process in each of those years.  Smith potentially will be the House budget chairman throughout that time, and therefore would be in a position help make that happen.

State budget experts say General Revenue has never been used to pay for transportation infrastructure.  That is usually done with funds earmarked for that purpose.  Smith said it’s time to consider a fundamental change.

“The budget is a reflection of the state’s priorities and amongst those priorities should first be the core functions of government and I’d certainly put transportation infrastructure amongst the core functions of government,” said Smith.

Representative Kip Kendrick is the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Columbia representative Kip Kendrick is the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.  He called Smith’s proposal bold and a part of a larger discussion about how Missouri’s transportation infrastructure should be paid for, but funding it with general revenue would pit it against other priorities supported by that fund, like K-12 and higher education.

“A hundred million dollars in general revenue, I believe, sets a potentially bad precedent.  I don’t know how you ever unwind that,” said Kendrick.  “I think we need to be looking at long-term solutions and dedicated funding streams to address our infrastructure problems at the state level.”

Smith said weighing the various priorities of the state against one another is the job of the legislature.

“That is exactly what we’re doing here.  We’re talking about how we prioritize transportation versus education versus public safety – that is the process that the General Assembly goes through and I think that’s a natural and appropriate process,” said Smith.

The Missouri Department of Transportation says it is about $8-billion short of being able to fund its transportation needs in the next decade.

Missouri voters in November rejected a 10-cents-per-gallon tax increase to pay for road and bridge work.

Smith’s plan is part of his proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.  He unveiled that plan Wednesday.  Over the coming weeks the House Budget Committee will propose changes to that plan, then send it to the full House for debate during the week of March 25-29.  Before the state budget is finalized it must be approved by both the House and the Senate, then the governor could approve, reject, or delay funding from it.

Gas tax increase goes from legislature to voters on November ballot

The legislature is asking voters whether they want to increase Missouri’s gas tax to pay for road and bridge work and to boost support of the Highway Patrol.

Representative Jean Evans (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The House voted 88-60 to complete passage of House Bill 1460.  It would ask voters in November whether to increase the state’s fuel tax by two-and-a-half cents a year for four years – a ten cent total increase by July, 2022.  The current tax is 17-cents per gallon.

If passed, projections are the increase would generate about $421-million when fully implemented.  $128-million would be for local governments for road construction and maintenance.  The remaining $293.3-million would be appropriated by the General Assembly between the Department of Transportation to be used solely for road and bridge work, and the Highway Patrol.

Representative Jean Evans (R-Manchester) sponsored HB 1460, which was amended by the Senate to include the gas tax proposal.

“This is a vote to allow the people of Missouri a vote on how they want to pay for roads and bridges, how they’d like to fund their law enforcement,” said Evans.  “Send this vote to the people.  This is a vote for freedom and for safety.”

Kansas City Democrat Greg Razer said he was glad to see the House considering the ballot issue that would give the state a chance to take on pressing road and bridge work.

“We have these projects all over Missouri.  We need to address it.  This is a fantastic opportunity to allow the people of Missouri to make a decision on the future of our roads and bridges,” said Razer.

Kansas City Republican Kevin Corlew chaired the 21st Century Missouri Transportation System Task Force.  It recommended a gas tax increase to help support transportation funding.  He said whether such an increase will happen should be up to voters.

“Allow our citizens the opportunity on the November ballot to make a choice and to determine whether or not we can go forward with the 21st century Missouri transportation system, or will we be stuck with the transportation system that was built in the 20th century and continues to be funded with 20th century dollars.” said Corlew.

The House vote sent HB 1460 to the Secretary of State, who’s office is preparing it for the November ballot.  Many of the 60 “no” votes were cast by Republicans.

Representative Phil Christofanelli (photo; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

St. Peters representative Phil Christofanelli (R) called the proposal a “massive” and “deceptive” tax increase.

“The voters already had an opportunity to vote on raising taxes for transportation.  They said, ‘no,’ and here we are, coming back today, poll testing different ideas, how can we sell this idea that the voters have already rejected?”  said Christofanelli.  “We’re all going to go back to our districts – many of us in this [Republican] majority – and tell people how conservative we are, we are conservatives.  The voters believe that conservatives are here to shrink the size of government and not to grow the size of government, and that is exactly what we’re doing today.”

Representative Rocky Miller (R-Lake Ozark) said this measure is flawed and he will oppose it even though his district needs road maintenance and improvements.

“My district will come after me like a crazy person for voting against this, but there’s no way in the world I’m voting for this, and if it passes I’m going to work my guts out to kill it at the poll,” said Miller.

HB 1460 was originally a bill that would waive state tax liability on cash prizes awarded to Olympic medalists.  Another provision in the bill would create an “Emergency State Freight Bottleneck Fund,” that would pay for road projects costing $50-million or more that would relieve bottlenecks or delays of 20 minutes or more on Missouri roads.

The bill would also allow alternative fuels to be taxed at a substantially equivalent rate by 2026.

Because it was changed to include the ballot language for the gas tax, the language voters will see on the ballot will also ask them whether the state should waive tax liability for Olympic medal winners and could include language about the Bottleneck Fund as well.