Southeast Missouri vote leads defeat of road taxes

By Marc Powers ~ Southeast Missourian

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- While Proposition B proved a massive bust throughout the state, the animosity from Southeast Missourians to the $483 million tax increase for transportation was unmatched by voters in any other region.

Voters rejected the measure on Tuesday by a statewide margin of nearly 3-to-1, or 72.5 percent. In 19 Southeast Missouri counties combined, the ratio was better than 4-to-1 against, or 81.6 percent.

Mike Jinkerson of Jackson was among the 58,365 out of 71,492 regional residents casting ballots on the measure to vote against Proposition B. Jinkerson said road improvements are needed, but that wasn't enough to convince him to support higher taxes.

"I look at my paycheck and what they're taking out, and it looks to be overwhelming," Jinkerson said. "When you see all that they're taking out, you just shake your head."

Every area county rejected Proposition B at a higher rate than the statewide average, with St. Francois County being the least resistant with 74.5 percent opposition.

Nowhere in the region, and quite possibly the entire state, was the repudiation of the proposal stronger than in Butler County, where nine of every 10 ballots carried "no" votes.

In the wake of the measure's overwhelming defeat, Proposition B supporters put the brunt of the blame on a fierce anti-tax climate resulting from a faltering state economy, while also faulting voter dislike of a reliance on a regressive sales tax component over highway user fees as well as mistrust of Missouri Department of Transportation officials.

Missing Highway 67

Poplar Bluff Mayor Scott Faughn, who helped lead a local effort against Proposition B, said those issues were all concerns for Butler County voters. However, the real reason for the proposal's nearly 91 percent local failure rate was more personal -- the omission of upgrading Highway 67, the county's key north-south artery, to four lanes from MoDOT's 10-year plan for spending the new revenue.

"There was no incentive to work for this tax and every incentive to work to defeat it," Faughn said. "That just goes to show we remember the promises made to us."

Improvements to Highway 67, which runs from St. Louis to the Arkansas border, were included in MoDOT's abandoned 1992 plan that was to have been completed by 2008.

Like many Proposition B opponents around the state, Faughn said there is no question MoDOT needs a tax increase to improve Missouri roads. He and other local leaders would gladly work to pass such an increase, so long as Highway 67 is addressed, Faughn said.

The perceived lack of local road benefits was a factor for many voters.

While it has been four years since the State Highways and Transportation Commission, MoDOT's governing board, set aside the 1992 plan, time has not healed all wounds.

"Whether we like it or not, we are still fighting the ghosts of the 1992 plan," said commissioner Barry Orscheln of Moberly. "It will take a long time for people to forget it. Promises were made that couldn't be kept."

MoDOT director Henry Hungerbeeler said it will now take 35 years to do projects that were to at least be started within 10 years under Proposition B. It will take even longer to get to projects such as southern Highway 67 that weren't earmarked for funding from the tax package.

Beginning next year, MoDOT will shift a larger share of its resources toward maintaining existing roads. Construction on major projects, excluding those already underway, will come to a virtual halt.

During Thursday's commission meeting, MoDOT chief engineer Kevin Keith said removing some projects from the department's existing five-year construction plan may be needed as a result of lower-than-expected revenue from the state's current 17-cent-a-gallon fuel tax. However, commissioners quickly shot down that suggestion, saying projects in the current plan will be finished as promised even if it means issuing more bonds, and going into deeper debt, to do so.

Pursuing toll roads

The commission did endorse pursuing the authority to build toll roads, an idea MoDOT has floated in recent years but has made little headway in the legislature. Missouri voters would have to amend the state Constitution to allow toll roads.

Commissioner Duane Michie of Hayti said MoDOT officials will simply have to buckle down and work harder to earn the trust of voters.

"One of these days when we get the economy turned around and some other things happen, we can put this thing back together a piece at a time and make it happen," Michie said.

The commission made clear that it maintains full confidence in Hungerbeeler and other ranking MoDOT officials.

Proposition B's failure marked just the third time in state history that voters have rejected a tax increase for transportation. Despite the 72.5 percent opposition, an uncommonly lopsided result for a statewide ballot issue, it wasn't the worst defeat for a transportation tax.

In 1978, 87.7 percent of voters rejected a 3-cent fuel tax increase. The other failed effort, a 4-cent fuel tax levy in 1982, went down with 64.8 percent opposition.

Proposition B called for raising the fuel tax by 4 cents a gallon and adding a half-cent to the state sales tax.

Lewis County, in northeast Missouri, was the only place where Proposition B was favored, with 56.2 percent support. Its success there was largely attributed to the efforts of a group of high school students that has worked for safer roads after a classmate died in a traffic accident. The only other county where the measure did not fail was in nearby Shelby County, where the vote was tied.

Even in urban regions, which would have benefited the most from Proposition B, the result wasn't even close. Opposition in the Kansas City metropolitan area was lower than in any other region of the state, but 62.5 percent of voters still rejected it. In the St. Louis area, the measure failed with 71.2 percent against.

Major issue

Transportation funding has been a major issue in the General Assembly in recent years and will continue to be discussed. However, with the resounding rejection of Proposition B, it is unknown if lawmakers, more than half of whom will be newcomers because of term limits, will have the stomach to put together another tax plan right away.

House Minority Floor Leader Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods, said reform of the commission structure will be a key component of the Republican agenda on transportation.

The Republican plan is modeled on legislation state Rep. Lanie Black, R-Charleston, introduced in the last legislative session. That proposal called for forcing the governor to choose commission members from lists of nominees submitted by the leaders of both parties in both legislative chambers. At present, the governor can select whomever he wishes, though the nominee is subject to Senate approval.

In the meantime, MoDOT director Hungerbeeler said the department will do the best with the resources it has.

"We certainly respect the voters' decision, but it makes our job a little more challenging," Hungerbeeler said.

mpowers@semissourian.com

(573) 635-4608