Missouri Senate leaders uncertain on transportation gas tax

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A proposal to raise Missouri's fuel tax for the first time in two decades appears unlikely to move forward this session, Missouri Senate leaders said Thursday, despite warnings from transportation officials about the future of the state's infrastructure.

A bill that would raise the current 17-cent gas tax by 2 cents stalled earlier this week in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard said he doesn't want to waste more time on the measure and that the Legislature was apparently not going to address the problem. Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, who supports the increase, said there's no alternative out there.

"We don't have another solution that we feel confident can make it through," Dempsey said.

The legislation would bring in an estimated $55 million for the transportation department and allow the state to match all available federal funds in 2017. The federal government matches state highway spending on a 4-to-1 basis.

The Missouri Department of Transportation faces a steep decline in the state's construction budget for roads and bridges -- from $1.3 billion annually in 2009 to $685 million this year, and it is expected to drop to $325 million in the fiscal year 2017 budget. Increasing efficiency of cars resulting in less gas use, the expiration of a bond program to finance transportation and increased construction costs have all contributed to the transportation funding problems.

To deal with the anticipated shortfall in the amount needed to fully maintain all of the state's 32,000 miles of roads, the department plans to focus on fully maintaining one-quarter of the system.

"I guess we're going to close more roads and bridges," Richard said.

The rest of the roads will deteriorate from the current good condition they are kept in, eventually costing $1 billion more to repair than if they were fully maintained, according to the department.

The Senate debated the proposal Tuesday for several hours but ran into opposition from conservative Republicans opposed to a tax increase. Senators Ed Emery, R-Lamar, and Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, spoke against the proposal -- particularly because it would go into effect without voter approval.

"Which is more extreme: putting it to a vote of the people or forcing it down their throats?" Schaaf asked.

Schaaf suggested the better route may be a toll along Interstate 70, which he said voters would have to approve but might support if heavy trucks paid most of the toll costs.

Voters rejected last year a three-quarters of a cent sales tax increase that was heralded as the solution for transportation funding needs and would have provided about $5.4 billion over 10 years for roads and bridges as well as ports, railways and public transit.

Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, the Senate sponsor of this session's measure, said maintaining roads and bridges was essential to economic development as businesses would be put off by the ailing infrastructure in the state.

He had initially proposed increasing the gas tax 2 cents each year for three years and inflation-linked increases after that. But that was dropped because some lawmakers worried it would face state constitutional problems.

The Missouri Constitution includes a cap, adjusted for inflation, on how large of a tax increase the Legislature can enact without voter approval. It's currently at about $94 million.