WHY ROBBING TAG AND REGISTRATION FEES FOR ROAD REPAIR MEANS WORSE HIGHWAYS (Response to 2-23-06 ARDMOREITE editorial published 3-2-06)

The Sunday Ardmoreite's unsigned editorial lauding state legislative robbery of tag and registration fees for road maintenance begs explanation.

Every time the Oklahoma Department of Transportation has gotten more money over the last 25 years, the statewide road system has gotten worse, not better. Each time, the new funding was overwhelmingly taken -- not from the chief damage source, commercial trucking -- but from the driving public. Why should repeating that pattern be expected to yield different results?

Fuel taxation is designed to maintain highways. Why? There's an obvious tie between fuel burn and road use. Unfortunately, to curry favor with the trucking lobby, past legislators have sabotaged the baseline, guaranteeing that truck operators pay far less than their share. Trucking pays only about 22% of total state fuel tax revenues. A standard semi operating at its maximum legal weight inflicts pavement damage equivalent to 9,600 automobiles, yet in Oklahoma, that rig has paid 3 cents per gallon less state fuel tax than the automobile pays since 1987. Why don't legislators fix that before they tap other revenue streams?

Trucking pays only about 9% of total state tag and registration fee revenues, which are actually motor vehicle property tax, never meant for road upkeep. Experienced state legislators should recognize that using these funds for road maintenance forces the driving public to pay an even larger share of truck-inflicted damage costs, assuring worse roads in the future. Why? Freed from a larger share of its highway cost responsibility, trucking uses money it should have had to repay taxpayers for road use to buy more trucks. By the end of the 1990s, truck volume on state roads was growing at 45% per year - but that's a "good thing" as some legislators have seen it. It keeps their highway contractor friends very busy, paid for, of course, by the taxpayers. Why is more such irresponsibility acceptable?

It's simple: Until each road user accurately repays, nothing will change. Oklahoma must have an accurate study of highway user costs to establish definitively what each user now pays versus what should be paid. That data should then be used to reform the highway user fee system, ensuring fair cost recovery. Why should each road user not be called on to fairly repay?

It's not hard to see how a freshman legislator might be influenced to think tapping other funds for road repair is a good idea -- but why would seasoned news people, presumably always looking for the story behind the story, be so willing to sign off on such bad policy?

TOM ELMORE
North American Transportation Institute
PO Box 6617
OKC, OK 73153-0617
Tel: 405 794 7163
Fax: 405 799 2641
gtelmore@advancedtransport.org
www.advancedtransport.org


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Bill Ensures Money for Roads, Bridges
SUNDAY ARDMOREITE Editorial
2-23-06

It appears the Oklahoma Legislature is finally addressing the horrible condition of the state's roads and bridges. A supplememtal funding bill that was approved Thursday devotes $100 million to replace bridges on the state highway system and $25 million for county bridges.

Now the Legislature needs to take the next step by making sure a bill by Rep. Jeff Hickman becomes law. The measure redirects money Oklahomans pay for car tags and taxes from the state's general revenue fund to construction and maintenance for Oklahoma's roads and bridges.

The Department of Transportation says Oklahoma has 3,350 miles of highways rated in inadequate or critical condition. Also, 1,156 bridges are structurally deficient and functionally obsolete.

About $221 million in vehicle taxes is diverted from roads and bridges to the general revenue fund for politicians to spend on anything.

The Legislature has, over the years, designated certain revenue streams for certain items and it makes perfect sense to use car tag fees and taxes to help maintain the state's roads and bridges.

Good roads and bridges will save lives and cut down on drivers' maintenance costs. Good roads and bridges are also a key economic development tool.

Hickman's bill, which was approved by the House Transportation Committee, makes perfect sense and should become law.

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