COLUMBUS, Ohio - A committee appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine to recommend solutions to Ohio’s anticipated $2 billion annual road construction hole again suggested a gas tax increase in its finalized recommendations, published online Friday afternoon.
But the committee didn’t recommend an amount for the increase. Since the committee didn’t have consensus on other potential revenue sources, the report mentions them as potential solutions as well, including usage fees for hybrid and electric vehicles and indexing the gas tax to inflation.
“Governor DeWine will be reviewing this report and the committee’s recommendation as he finalizes his transportation budget proposal, which will be released in the very near future,” said his spokesman, Dan Tierney, in an email shortly after the report was released.
Time is of the essence, since the Ohio General Assembly needs to pass a two-year transportation budget by March 31.
The Governor’s Advisory Committee on Transportation Infrastructure had 15 members who worked at a whirlwind pace over two days last week. It listened to an assessment of Ohio’s highway financial woes one day and then took public testimony, mostly from local governments and the construction industry largely in favor of a tax increase, the next day. The members had agreed to recommend a gas tax increase – but didn’t at the time settle on how much it should be.
Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jack Marchbanks told the committee Ohio needs $1 billion a year on average over the next 11 years to maintain and improve roads: $500 million for maintenance, $250 million for safety projects and $250 million for new, major projects.
For local governments, committee members last week estimated the annual shortfall would be $1 billion to $1.5 billion across counties, townships and municipalities.
Marchbanks said that if roads aren’t maintained, they become a safety issue that will be a factor in fatal accidents.
Ohio’s gas tax is 28 cents a gallon. It was last increased in 2005 – going up two cents a year since 2003.
Since then, construction inflation has gone up, decreasing Ohio’s bang for the buck from the gas tax, with ODOT estimating $1 in 2005 is worth about 58 cents today.
Other issues causing highway construction funding to slide include:
- Bond money from the Ohio Turnpike having been spent or committed to projects;
- Borrowing against future gas taxes, requiring the state to pay around 14 percent of its state and federal road revenues in debt service;
- And increasingly efficient vehicles, resulting in people filling up less and paying less in gas taxes.
Other suggestions in the report that were mentioned but didn’t have consensus of all committee members:
- Indexing the gas tax with inflation – although committee members were concerned that the right inflation measure be used. Some wanted to cap inflation increases to avoid major gas price spikes.
- Allowing local governments to levy fees if they choose on vehicle registration to pay for local road projects.
- Seeking a revenue from vehicles that use little or no fuel. The report noted there was a range of opinions on this suggestion. At least one committee member suggested an additional fee on electricity or the source of the vehicle’s power.
- More funding for mass transit.
- One committee member - a representative of the oil and gas industry - recommended leasing state land for oil and gas exploration, and using the money on roads. “No other committee members weighed in on the drilling idea,” the report stated.