Hiking gas tax not in immediate plans, Bredesen administration, top Dem lawmaker say

By John Rodgers, The City Paper
November 28, 2006

The Bredesen administration and a top Democratic lawmaker have no immediate plans to increase the gas tax — even though the state says it needs $2 billion in increased road funding.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation’s long-term plan claims the state needs $2 billion more revenue to complete needed transportation projects in the next 10 years.

One way of raising those funds is through the state Legislature passing a gas tax hike, which Gov. Phil Bredesen has not ruled out backing during his second term.

Lydia Lenker, Bredesen’s spokeswoman, dismissed talk, however, of any immediate plans to up the gas tax.

“At this time, the governor has no intention of raising the gas tax,” Lenker said.

Rep. Phillip Pinion (D-Union City), the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said he was not in favor of increasing the gas tax.

Instead, Pinion said the state needs to “think outside the box” and not put “more of a burden on the taxpayer.” He pointed toward public, private toll roads as an option for the state.

“We are going to have to build the roads to meet the needs, and we are not going to be able to have the money to do it unless we look at alternative ways,” Pinion said, adding that toll roads “give people a choice” about where they spend their money.

During his campaign for re-election, Bredesen said the state “ought to” increase the gas tax if it wasn’t able to draw down the appropriate amount of federal money.

The more money the state has available in its road funds, the more federal dollars it can bring down to pay for more projects. Often times, the federal government will pay for 80 percent of a road project.

But both Bredesen and former Gov. Don Sundquist have raided that highway fund since 2002 and diverted what is intended for highway projects toward other purposes, like education and healthcare.

Between those two administrations, almost $280 million has been taken away from TDOT and the highway fund and devoted toward non-transportation related programs. Bredesen transferred almost $220 million and Sundquist took $60 million in his last two budgets.

“That’s $280 million worth of projects we couldn’t do,” Pinion said.

The diverting of the highway funds, however, is not planned to continue in Bredesen’s next budget, said Lola Potter, spokeswoman for the Department of Finance and Administration. Almost $32 million was transferred in this year’s budget.

Sen. Mark Norris (R-Collierville), the chairman of the Senate’s Transportation Committee, said the administration was “appearing to lay the foundation of a gas tax increase” with talk of needing $2 billion in increased transportation funding.

Norris has been a champion of restoring full funding to TDOT’s highway fund. He battled the Bredesen administration, which thought the money would be better spent elsewhere, during the time the Legislature was in session.

Norris said if a gas tax increase is proposed to help raise revenue, it’s “inconsistent and ironic” since Bredesen opposed restoring full funding to the highway fund.

“It’s almost inconceivable that he would do that on the heels of his battle against restoring dedicated road funds,” Norris said.

The gas tax, which has not been increased since 1989, currently costs driver’s in Tennessee 21.4 cents per gallon no matter what the price of gas is.

Of the 21.4 cents of gas tax, almost 13 cents goes to the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s (TDOT) highway fund to pay for state transportation projects.

According to AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com, the average price of a gallon of gas in Tennessee was $2.12 Monday, which is about 10 cents higher than it was one year ago at this time.

Pinion said the increasing price of gas limits the possibility of raising the gas tax. He plans on introducing legislation next year to give the state the ability to approve toll roads, which he thinks should only be placed on new – not existing - roadways.

A public, private toll road, Pinion said, would work through a private company developing and building a toll road at no cost to the taxpayer.

Depending on the agreement, the state could still own the road, Pinion said, but the private company would operate it and get a portion of the tolls.

“Private industry can do things so much faster because they don’t have to jump through so many hoops,” Pinion said.