State legislative leaders murky on gas tax

DES MOINES - A group of central Iowa business leaders meeting with state legislative leaders on Wednesday reaffirmed its support for raising Iowa's gas tax to fund road and bridge construction.

The Greater Des Moines Partnership, which represents 21 central Iowa chambers of commerce, included in its 2015 state policy agenda support for increasing the gas tax to address the annual $215 million shortfall in the state's transportation infrastructure budget.

The organization released its annual legislative agenda Wednesday at a lunch event attended by Iowa Legislature leaders, including House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs.

The state lawmakers said they acknowledge something must be done to address the road construction funding shortfall but were vague as to whether a legislative agreement will be reached or what that might look like.

'Every caucus has members who support it. Every caucus has members who oppose it,” Paulsen said. 'There's more discussion going on right now regarding (the gas tax) than I've seen in the past, but there doesn't seem to necessarily be a consensus that has been arrived at yet. ...

'Nobody will dispute that we aren't staring at a very significant problem in the next handful of years if we don't figure something out on this front.”

The Greater Des Moines Partnership also supported a gas tax increase in 2014.

The possibility of action on transportation infrastructure funding seems higher for the upcoming session than it has in the past after Gov. Terry Branstad announced immediately after the Nov. 4 election that he will make funding a priority.

'I think the governor's clearly left the door open ... to it this cycle,” Gronstal said. 'I think it's time for people of good faith to sit down, figure out what works best, what speaks to the different issues inside all of our diverse caucuses and put together a plan that will put approximately an additional $200 million a year into transportation infrastructure.”

As evidence of the strong opposition that remains to a gas tax increase, Iowans for Tax Relief on Wednesday issued notice it will fight any such effort.

'Iowans for Tax Relief will lead the fight to defeat any increase of Iowa motor fuel taxes, in any way,” the group's literature said.

Business leaders at Wednesday's event also asked the legislative leaders about tax increment financing, or TIF, reform and expanding broadband Internet access.

Gronstal said so long as local governments use TIF responsibly, the Legislature is likely to leave alone the economic development tool.

'Here's my warning to all of you: Don't use it stupidly,” Gronstal said. 'TIF is a very effective tool, but if you use it to build a carwash or a golf course ... politically that is using TIF stupidly.”

The legislators seemed optimistic that agreement can be reached this year on expanding broadband Internet access. A deal was close in the 2014 session but fell through.

'I think that's something the entire General Assembly is very interested in working on,” Paulsen said. '(Broadband Internet) is extremely easy to talk about and remarkably difficult to write a bill. So it's really going to require a great deal of effort on our part to get that done. ...

'I think you're going to see a pretty serious effort toward trying to get something done on this front.”