MODOT DIRECTOR: GAS TAX SHOULD GO TO ROADS

Missouri would have more money for road construction if lawmakers would give the Transportation Department some of the millions of dollars in highway money that currently goes to other state agencies, MoDOT Director Henry Hungerbeeler says.

In fiscal 1999, nearly $167 million in fuel-tax and other transportation revenue went to help fund eight other state agencies, Missouri Transportation Department financial records show. The Legislature actually budgeted $174 million for those eight agencies.

Most of it, more than $100 million, went to the Highway Patrol. Nearly $42 million went to the Department of Revenue. The rest was divided among the offices of administration, state auditor and treasurer, and the departments of natural resources, economic development, public safety, and revenue.

Hungerbeeler said reallocating the money is one of three ways to increase state funding for highway improvements. The others are to raise highway user fees and taxes, and impose new fees or taxes.

Hungerbeeler said he favors a combination of all three, but hasn't made any specific proposal to lawmakers.

Lawmakers are considering legislation as part of a highway bond issue bill that would freeze the amount of money allocated to other agencies, he said.

Former highway commissioner John L. Oliver Jr. of Cape Girardeau said the Legislature has for decades allocated highway money to other agencies.

"The Legislature has always filched and continues to filch highway trust fund money," said former highway commissioner John Oliver Jr. of Cape Girardeau.

"They go to great lengths to divert funds that could be used for highway construction," said Oliver.

The former highway commissioner said the state should look at funding the other state agencies out of general revenue "and quit pilfering the money that the constitution says belongs to the highway commission."

But state Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson, said lawmakers can't ignore the Missouri Constitution.

The constitution stipulates that highway fund money will be used not only to fund MoDOT, but also to pay the cost of collecting transportation fees and taxes, and enforcement of vehicle and traffic laws.

Oliver said funding for the Highway Patrol may be the least objectionable. But Oliver, who served on the highway commission from December 1989 to January 1996, said the Highway Patrol has expanded well beyond its original role of traffic enforcement.

The patrol is actively involved in drug investigations today. The agency has become a state police agency, Oliver said.

Schwab said legislation introduced this session would freeze the amount of revenue going to the Highway Patrol to the current funding level. Any additional funding would have to come out of general revenue, under the measure.

But Schwab said the measure isn't expected to pass this year.

Still, the Jackson lawmaker said the Legislature needs to take a closer look at how highway fund money is used and particularly how much of it is spent on administrative costs at MoDOT.

Former state senator Emory Melton has said that much of the 6-cent fuel tax hike, approved by lawmakers in 1992, didn't go to new highway construction for the 15-year road plan.

In fiscal 1999, each penny of the 6-cent increase generated $37.7 million, of which $26.4 million went to MoDOT, highway officials said.

Wayne Muri directed the state highway department in 1992. Muri, who has since retired, said the public thought the money would be spent on new road construction.

But Muri said he and others at MoDOT, as well as lawmakers, knew at the time that an increasing amount of highway money would be allocated to other state agencies.

With the 6-cent increase, the state fuel tax in Missouri totals 17 cents a gallon.

MoDOT officials said the agency's own analysis of the 15-year highway plan showed that other agencies combined would receive more than $3.3 billion over the life of the plan, extending through fiscal 2010. That figure includes all state highway tax and fee revenue.

MoDOT officials provided a copy of the analysis to the Southeast Missourian last week after the newspaper asked the agency for a financial accounting of highway fund revenue.

The Legislature previously capped annual highway funding for other stage agencies at $119 million.

But the highway plan approved by the Legislature raised the cap, tying it to the growth rate of highway fund revenue, MoDOT officials said.

The department's analysis, released to lawmakers in March 1992, projected that $208 million a year would be budgeted to other state agencies by 2010.

That analysis assumed that voters would extend the 6-cent tax, which is set to expire on April 1, 2008.

Hungerbeeler said the state collected over $1.1 billion in highway revenue last fiscal year. MoDOT received 60 percent of the money, about $667 million.

The rest went to other state agencies, cities, counties, and for Hancock tax refunds, he said.

Hungerbeeler acknowledged that some of the numbers vary in different MoDOT financial reports. "I wish we would start giving out consistent numbers," he said.