Is this the year to raise gas tax?

DES MOINES - As regular as snow removal and the discovery of new potholes, conversations about raising the gas tax circulate at the Iowa Capitol.

In recent years, lawmakers have tinkered with transportation funding, but they have put off what many see as an unavoidable need to increase the tax that generates $1.203 billion a year.

House Transportation Committee Chairman Dave Tjepkes, R-Gowrie, doubts the call for more revenue will be answered this year, but he hopes for a discussion to set the stage for action next year.

That discussion likely will begin today when Department of Transportation Director Nancy Richardson appears before the House-Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee. She won't be asking for a gas tax increase, according to Stuart Anderson, DOT director of planning and programming. Instead, she will lay out the challenges the agency faces trying to maintain a system of 114,000 miles and 25,000 structures.

And It's not just the miles. Iowa's roads and bridges were primarily developed and modernized from the 1940s to 1960s, meaning many are past their prime.

The motor fuel tax has remained virtually unchanged since 1989. The price of concrete, fuel, steel, insurance and wages “has really chewed into the buying power of (the) 1989 dollar,” eroding it by as much as 70 percent, said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Tom Rielly, D-Oskaloosa.

Despite the need, “I don't know of a single person who wants to vote for a tax increase,” Rielly said.

Given that climate and the presence of 40 freshmen in the Legislature this year, Scott Newhard, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors, said the emphasis this year will be on education.

That gives Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, some cause for optimism.

“I'd like to think it's a new year and there are new people here would like to try something,” McCoy said.