MoDOT trust will be issue in tax debate

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- As the process of convincing Missouri voters to raise a half-billion dollars in new taxes to improve transportation begins, the issue of whether state officials can be trusted to spend the money wisely will loom large.

In 1992, the General Assembly, without seeking voter approval, increased the state fuel tax by 6 cents per gallon. In exchange for the increase, the Missouri Department of Transportation promised an ambitious plan that spelled out every road and bridge project that would be undertaken over 15 years.

By 1998, however, that plan was scrapped. MoDOT officials said it was based on faulty and unrealistic cost projections.

With the failure of the 15-year plan still fresh in the minds of many Missourians, MoDOT officials will have to walk a fine line between providing voters with sufficient detail on how new revenue would be spent without over-promising in order to secure passage.

"We want to be very careful and not promise people things we won't be able to deliver," said MoDOT spokesman Jeff Briggs. "That is what happened last time and we don't want to ever do that again."

Adding cents

The latest revenue proposal, which voters will decide on Aug. 6, would add another 4 cents to the fuel tax and increase the state sales tax by a half-cent.

During last month's legislative debate on whether to put the measure on the ballot, it was estimated the package would raise $511 million a year. That figure, which included natural growth in tax collections, was calculated by MoDOT and the Department of Revenue.

However, the state auditor's office, which has the final say on the fiscal impact statement that will appear on the ballot, put the package at $483 million a year. The auditor's figure assumes zero annual growth due to a sluggish state economy.

In the coming weeks the State Highways and Transportation Commission, MoDOT's governing body, expects to unveil a spending plan for the new money. Commissioner Duane Michie of Hayti said that plan should be as detailed as possible.

"I really feel that makes a lot of sense -- a concept that is project-specific," Michie said. "How that would be structured is still unclear."

Michie said the commission would likely discuss the proposed spending scheme at its Friday meeting, which will be held in Cape Girardeau at the Show Me Center beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Briggs said the plan will include a number of specific projects but won't necessarily attempt to earmark every dollar the taxes, which would expire after 10 years unless renewed by voters, would generate.

Estil Fretwell, a Missouri Farm Bureau lobbyist, said specificity is needed to sell a tax increase to voters. He said voters overwhelmingly rejected vague transportation tax measures in 1978 and 1982.

"Both of those efforts did not have specifics as to how the money would be used," Fretwell said. "I think that was a lesson learned."

When MoDOT went back to the ballot box in 1987, it offered details and the proposal passed.

How MoDOT draws its latest plan will have significant bearing on whether Farm Bureau, a key player in earlier transportation efforts, supports or opposes the latest tax drive.

The group wanted reforms in MoDOT's decision-making structure as a condition of its support. However, lawmakers left such provisions out of the measure, leaving it "tax heavy and reform light," Fretwell said.

A plan that allocates resources based on need rather than political expediency could bring the group on board, Fretwell said. Department studies have shown that a needs-based approach would shift a greater share of highway spending to rural areas.

"We are watching very closely to see what the commission does that could have bearing on our position," Fretwell said. "The first half of the game has been played and we're disappointed in the outcome. The second half has yet to be determined."

mpowers@semissourian.com

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