Area lawmakers: Gas tax still an option to fund road and bridge projects

Missouri voters last week rejected a measure to increase the fuel tax, but the state Legislature could raise the tax next year without putting the issue back before voters, area lawmakers said Monday.

Under the state�s Hancock Amendment, tax and fee hikes raising revenue below a certain level don�t require voter approval.

State Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, said lawmakers could consider raising the fuel tax incrementally and keep it under the Hancock Amendment threshold.

A 2-cent increase in the fuel tax could generate an estimated $80 million annually.

Voters defeated a proposed sales tax issue for roads and bridges in 2014 and then turned down Proposition D earlier this month.

Prop D, put on the ballot by the Legislature, would have increased the fuel tax by 2.5 cents a gallon each year for the next four years. At the end of that time, the per-gallon tax would have climbed from 17 cents to 27 cents.

When fully implemented, it would have generated $412 million a year in new money for state road and bridge projects, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and local transportation projects.

But with voters having rejected two tax measures to fund road and bridge improvements over the past four years, Wallingford said it is �more likely� lawmakers would look to raise the fuel tax without having to go back to voters.

�We own the roads and bridges, and we have to take care of them,� he said. �We don�t really have a lot of options.�

Wallingford said there is little support in the Legislature for toll roads.

�The gas tax was the logical route to go,� he said.

Those who use the roads, including out-of-state drivers, would fund needed road and bridge improvements, the Cape Girardeau senator said.

The fuel tax hasn�t been raised since 1996, he said.

The senator, who will serve as assistant majority floor leader in the 2019 legislative session, said he expects transportation funding to be a top priority.

State Rep. Rick Francis, R-Perryville, Missouri, said lawmakers should consider raising vehicle license and registration fees. Such a move would not only help fund road and bridge projects, but also make it easier to maintain license offices in rural areas, he said.

License bureaus are run by private individuals under contract with the state. But in rural areas, it can be difficult to find individuals willing to operate such offices because they generate little revenue for the operators, he said.

In his legislative district, a license bureau in Marble Hill, Missouri, was shuttered. An office recently reopened. Meanwhile, a license office in Fredericktown, Missouri, has closed, said Francis, who represents District 145.

Such closures inconvenience the public, he said.

Newly elected District 146 state Rep. Barry Hovis, R-Gordonville, said he typically doesn�t embrace tax hikes. But he said he favored Prop D.

Hovis said he is uncertain how best to generate more revenue to fund road and bridge improvements now that the tax measure failed.

But Missouri needs to maintain its roads and bridges if it wants to remain competitive with other states in recruiting businesses and industries, and providing jobs, he said.

State Rep. Kathy Swan, R-Cape Girardeau, suggested the Legislature should consider going to voters with a transportation tax that includes a sunset provision.

Swan said such a measure could be patterned after Cape Girardeau�s successful transportation sales tax where city officials identify transportation projects that are funded over five years. Every five years, the city asks voters to extend the tax to fund a new set of projects.

Swan said she believes a sunset provision and a specific list of statewide projects would make it easier to pass a fuel-tax increase.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641