On Wednesday June 3rd I joined the Town Engineer to Tucson for the Pima Association of Governments (PAG) and Regional Transit Authority (RTA) conference. The subject of the conference was the affects of the upcoming federal stimulus and the State budget as well as updating the 5 year plan. On the car ride over the Engineer Craig, and I talked about the new trends in transit. One comment that I had brought up was that there is going to be an increase in population and cars using the roads, representing an increase in usage and demand for roads. A gas tax of $0.184 for Federal and $0.18 for state equals $0.364 total. This rate remains constant whether the price for gasoline is $1 or $4 per gallon. The point I brought up was the fact that federal mandates are requiring new vehicles to have increasing fuel economy ratings. I cannot remember the exact years or numbers, but the point was that cars will become more fuel efficient thus having the possible effect of lowering the amount of tax revenue from the sale of gasoline. This of course depends on the increase in the number of vehicles driving as well as other factors. Craig said it was a valid point of concern. He agreed with me and thought that the increase in the number of cars driving would not be enough to counteract the increasing MPG rating. He also pointed out that if alternative fuel becomes more popular that could also have an effect.
Craig is the Vice Chair for the Transportation Finance Subcommittee. There were about 20 or so people attending this meeting. Many concerns were expressed about the highway and other transportation funds for the future. If some funds did not receive a federal deposit they would be bankrupt in a year or so. When the Chair of the committee asked for any other concerns Craig brought up my point about the increasing MPG theory. The Chair immediately said that it was a great point to bring up and a 20 minute discussion on the topic ensued.
Being a new intern means that I am invited to almost every meeting that is held. Often times I have nothing to contribute except for questions clarifying things. It was a nice change to have one of my ideas discussed among engineers from across the different municipalities who have been working in the field since before I was born.
On the car ride back to town Craig and I talked about the idea of changing the source of revenue away from the gas tax. The funds from the gas tax are used to pay for road improvement, maintenance and expansion. Rather than have the revenue be based off of the gas tax, it might be more efficient to get a form of tax closer to the actual usage of the roads. Perhaps a millage tax run through the DMV would be an option. It would be difficult to determine on which roads the millage was actually used. But the specific idea is not what is important now. The main idea is to determine a way to have revenue match usage so that citizens do not overpay for roads or drive on underfunded roads.
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This sounds pretty interesting being apart of the discussion in regards to transportation at the COG meeting. I was able to attend a meeting at MAG with similar discussion. With the economy suffering and as well as funds trickling in areas throughout the region, the next three years look bleak. Transportation seemed to be the main point of the discussion.
ReplyDeleteRevenue sources that are used for roadway construction and maintenance all stem from the gas tax mainly. The idea of a millage tax has been considered in Congress. A couple years ago there was discussion of this, especially with the new CAFE standards. I do not know where the discussion went, but it might arise with the federal government growing, as well as their involvment in the automotive industry.