Road tax urgency slipping away
09/10/2007
Not counting on a special session, DFL plans to rally public behind action in '08BY BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press
09/10/2007
For Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Minnesota legislators, the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge Aug. 1 was a wake-up call to stop squabbling and find a way to fix the state's long-neglected roads and bridges.
But a month later, the bipartisan goodwill has evaporated, and the Republican governor and Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers have reverted to partisan haggling.
That means the chances of passing a comprehensive transportation bill in a special session this fall are all but dead.
The issue, though, is still very much alive. DFL legislators are preparing to launch a campaign to drum up public support, including going directly to citizens in each of the state's 87 counties. The goal is to build momentum for transportation tax increases that can be passed during the 2008 legislative session - even if DFL leaders have to roll over Pawlenty to do it.
Some transportation advocates say the 2008 session may be too late. Public support for an expensive fix might fade with memories of the collapsed bridge.
"The time is now. It's on the public's mind," Rick Krueger, president of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, a coalition of highway contractors, unions and related groups, said last week.
Other proponents said they're willing to wait until next year to get the job done right.
"It is not a quick fix that can happen in a special session," said Cook County Commissioner Bob Fenwick, president of the Association of Minnesota Counties. "Good solutions may
take some time."
If state policymakers have lost their sense of urgency to address transportation needs, the public hasn't, Fenwick said. Minnesotans want safe roads and bridges and more transit to relieve traffic congestion.
Pawlenty has vetoed two bills for gas tax increases in the past three years. But after the bridge collapsed, he changed his mind and offered to consider a nickel-a-gallon boost in the tax - although he wanted the tax increase to be temporary and partially offset by income tax cuts.
DFL legislators welcomed his change of heart but said 5 cents wasn't enough. They wanted additional tax increases, including a 0.5 percent metro-area sales tax to pay for bus and rail transit and major road projects.
Citing a Minnesota Department of Transportation study, Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, said the gap between what the state is spending and what it needs to meet performance standards is about $2.4 billion a year for the next six years. A 5-cent gas tax increase would raise an estimated $162 million a year.
"The governor is talking about a 5 percent solution to the problem," Murphy said. (Actually, a 5-cent tax would plug 6.75 percent of the gap.) "I'm not interested in negotiating for a 5 percent solution."
So, Murphy and other members of the House and Senate transportation committees - "mostly Democrats but some Republicans," he said - are preparing to take a traveling show to each of the state's county seats to tell citizens about Minnesota's transportation needs.
He said they would argue for legislation similar to the bill Pawlenty vetoed earlier this year. That measure called for a 5 cent increase in the current 20 cents-a-gallon gas tax; an additional gas tax surcharge of up to 2.5 cents a gallon to finance highway bonds; authorizing metro counties to impose a half-cent sales tax for transit, roads and bridges; and an increase in motor vehicle license renewal fees.
The public dislikes tax increases. "So what?" Murphy said. "Courage is doing what's politically unpopular when it's going to save people's lives."
Pawlenty still opposes the DFL tax proposals.
During a news conference last week, he singled out the proposed sales tax increase for transit as excessive. "There's a great and growing appetite to pay for the next 10 years of light rail, commuter rail and buses," he said. He doesn't want taxpayers to be stuck with the tab.
Transit advocates argue the state needs a dedicated revenue source for bus and rail services to enable long-range planning and ensure that money is available to match federal grants.
"We already have one," Pawlenty responded. Last year, voters approved a constitutional amendment that dedicated all the revenue from the sales tax on new and used cars and trucks to transportation projects. It earmarks at least 40 percent of that money for transit.
The transfer of motor vehicle sales tax revenue is being phased in over five years. It will generate about $142 million for transit projects this year and $247 million by 2012, according to Finance Department estimates. Pawlenty said that and other state appropriations would meet current transit needs, including funds for the proposed Central Corridor light-rail line.
But he has acknowledged the state should spend more on transportation. In addition to a modest gas tax increase, he has suggested borrowing for highway construction, exploring a transition to taxing the number of vehicle miles traveled and cutting spending on other programs to free up money for roads, bridges and transit.
MnDOT estimated in 2005 that it needs $1 billion more a year for state highways. Add in the unmet needs for transit systems and local roads and bridges, and the funding gap is almost $2 billion a year, the Transportation Alliance calculated.
Pawlenty has said he hopes to negotiate a transportation deal with the Legislature next year. The House transportation committee chairman, Rep. Bernie Lieder, DFL-Crookston, said he would prefer to "work something out with the governor. I think there's a glimmer of hope for the next session."
But Murphy, the Senate transportation chairman, said he doubts Pawlenty would agree to the tax increases. "It comes down to 'Show me the money,' and the governor hasn't done that yet," he said.
He suspects the Legislature will have to try to override another Pawlenty veto next year. That's a distinct possibility in the Senate, which in the past has supported tax increases for transportation.
But it's more problematic in the House. Earlier this year, Lieder said, transportation bill supporters lined up 89 votes to override the governor's veto. That was one vote short of the two-thirds majority they needed.
"We need to shake one vote out of the bushes somewhere," Lieder said. "You would think that with all the pressure on members now to do something, that somebody might give. But I don't know what's going to happen."