Roadblocks remain to gas tax increase

DES MOINES - Support for an increased gas tax has jumped this year among state leaders and lawmakers, as well as business and advocacy groups.

Still, and although their numbers may be dwindling, there remain groups and individuals who vow to put the brakes on a gas tax boost.

The state for years has attempted to solve an annual $215 million hole in its transportation construction and repair budget.

Several reports say the state's bridges are in bad shape and potential highway projects remain on the back burner. This is while the state attempts to overcome declining gas tax revenue as a result of more fuel-efficient cars and fewer miles driven.

A few years have passed without legislative solutions, and the budget hole remains. More counties are bonding for road projects.

As the issue remains unresolved and gas prices plunge to five-year lows, more lawmakers and advocates have expressed support in increasing the gas tax. Business groups have said they'll back a revenue increase, Gov. Terry Branstad made road funding a central focus of this year's legislative session, and key state lawmakers have said the issue must be addressed.

Support for increasing the gas tax - last done 26 years ago - is higher than it has been in years.

But not everybody has boarded the bus to a higher fuel tax. A few holdouts remain ready to fight to keep Iowa's gas tax right where it is.

Last group standing?

Iowans for Tax Relief, a conservative advocacy group based out of Muscatine, is the rare organization on record this year as opposing a gas tax increase. It has vowed to fight on the issue.

'Big-spending politicians and tax-eating special interests are eagerly pushing to raise your gas tax when the 2015 Legislative Session begins in January,” reads a mailer the group published in December. 'Iowans for Tax Relief will lead the fight to defeat any increase of Iowa motor fuel taxes, in any way!”

The group's political director said its opposition is simple: The state has enough money to fix roads and bridges, it just needs to practice smarter spending, like a family would in a time of need.

'That's the way every Iowan handles their budget. If they have a set amount of money coming into their home, and they have a roof that's leaking, they don't buy a new TV. They take the money out of their entertainment budget and put it toward their critical need, which is the roof that's leaking,” Ernie Adkison said.

'I think that's just good stewardship.”

Adkison said the state should re-examine its transportation funding formula to address where the greatest needs are - its farm-to-market roads.

In fiscal year 2015, Iowa devoted $260 million to secondary roads and $84.5 million to farm-to-market roads.

'We have a formula that ties the hands of the DOT, a formula that doesn't put the greatest amount of money where the greatest need is,” Adkison said.

'The DOT would say that the largest problem is the farm-to-market roads … and they get the smallest piece of the pie. I think when you give the larger piece of the pie to the smaller part of the road system, they're going to be more apt to spend it on things that aren't necessary …

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'The money's already there. It's just not being divvied up right, not being divvied out like it should be. I think that's the part that needs to be looked at (more) than how else can we bring more money into it.”

Rep. Josh Byrnes, R-Osage, said opening the funding formula for changes could lead to more complications than solutions. Byrnes, who heads the House Transportation Committee and is a proponent of increasing transportation funding revenues, said once that pie is cut, everyone would want a bigger slice.

'If we open that up for discussion and start to say we'd like to switch this up a little bit, we're going to blow this thing apart,” Byrnes said. 'What's going to happen is, let's look at street construction fund, and we have more urban legislators now. And they're going to say, ‘Hey, you guys are opening this up for discussion? Game on.' And they have the votes to trump us in the rural areas.

'So you talk to our county supervisors, our county engineers, and they're saying don't touch this.”

Adkison said there also is more money to be found by trimming fat in the overall state budget.

'If you back up and look at the overall budget, we're making an assumption that there is no fat, there is no excess anywhere else, (that) government is operating as lean as it can, and there aren't any programs that can use less money to take care of a really important need,” he said. 'I think everybody says government needs to shrink, not grow.”

WHERE THE MONEY GOES

In fiscal 2015, Iowa's Road Use Tax Fund - the gas tax - distributed $1.2 billion. Here's where that money went:

' $493 million Primary roads

' $259.9 million Secondary roads

' $207.6 million Street construction

' $84.5 million Farm-to-market roads

' $78 million Operations/other

' $32.7 million C&I Network

' $22.4 million 1 cent fuel tax (RISE)

' $16.8 million RISE Fund (for economic development)

' $12 million Off-the-top allocations

Source: Iowa DOT