1/12/10-Getting legislation through any statehouse to create funding for transportation work in a recession is considered no small task. Undeterred, a group of Kansas lawmakers has decided to take up that task during the 2010 regular session.
The Special Committee on Transportation reached agreement in the days leading up to the start of the legislative session to put before lawmakers two funding options to pay for future transportation projects. They are looking to raise between $3.7 billion and $4.4 billion with tax and fee increases during the next decade.
The new 10-year program would inject billions of dollars into highways, rail and air.
One option calls for applying the state sales tax, which is 5.3 cents per dollar, on fuel purchases, but reduce the existing fuel tax rates by 5 cents per gallon. The gas tax is 24 cents per gallon and the diesel tax is 26 cents per gallon.
With local governments also being able to assess the local sales tax, the proposal would raise $4.4 billion over 10 years.
The second option would boost the fuel tax rates by 7 cents per gallon. They would be tied to the rate of inflation, which would allow them to be adjusted annually. After 10 years, estimates put the per-gallon tax increase at 15 cents, which would raise $3.7 billion.
Both plans would authorize car registration fees to increase by $20 while truck registrations would go up $100.
The tax increases would not be implemented until 2013. In the meantime, the plans rely on lawmakers endorsing a three-year stopgap plan to get the state through the worst of the recession. Kansas would rely on state and federal funding, including $300 million in bonds to maintain the existing transportation system.
Gov. Mark Parkinson is also proposing some help for transportation. He has unveiled a three-year, 1-percentage point sales tax increase to help support the state budget. It is estimated the increase would bring in about $308 million for the state.
The governor said that after 2013 only a 0.2 percent increase would remain, with the money going to highways.