Gas tax funds at risk with new law proposal

Despite the controversy it generated, local governments championed the state’s efforts last year to approve a gas tax as road improvements funds had endured a steady decline.

What could be a doubleedged sword, is a proposal to raise the federal gastax which reportedly has already gained the support of the President.

On Feb. 14, Politico reported that in a meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, President Donald Trump offered support to the idea as a way to generate additional revenue to pay for his recently unveiled infrastructure plan.

Although a gasoline tax increase could have a positive impact on the funding opportunities of the Imperial Valley to address its biggest infrastructure needs, Department of Public Works Director John Gay said he’s also concerned about an additional cost to the residents of the state and the Imperial Valley.

He said drivers are already paying more at the pump, following the passing of Senate Bill 1 which took effect in California in November.

“The challenge we have is that we’ve been underfunded for so long,” Gay said. “Over time less money that is going into the Highway Trust Fund which is the federal fund used for all public road infrastructure across the U.S., that means states are going to have to come up with more money for its projects.”

He also noted the county goes through the California Department of Transportation to get federal funding and additional revenues generated by the possible federal increase could be beneficial, however despite the verbal support of Trump, still no formal proposal has been introduced yet. Additional concerns One of the biggest concerns Gay has is getting clarification on the language used for the White House’s infrastructure plan in which the President mentions he would seek states to contribute 20 percent for projects. He said the federal government currently has a program in which it allocates close to 90 percent of the funding for certain projects and is concerned whether the there is an intent to change that ratio.

“If you change the ways things are funded now, I’m not sure that would be necessarily a benefit at this time,” Gay said. “I’m skeptical at this point.”

He said the current improvement Dogwood Road Project is a project which received about 88 percent of funding through a federal program, with the remainder of the funds paid by SB 1 funds.

“If there is a change to the ratio, that’s going to have a huge impact on federal grants because we do rely on grants here,” Gay said.

Although the current events taking place at the federal level can have a big impact, a ballot measure coming up in the fall can also have big repercussions.

Currently, there is an effort to repeal the gastax in the state which was approved last year and went into effect in the fall. For the first fiscal year with SB 1 in effect, the county’s funding for roads increased from nearly $7 million to more than $10 million with projections for the ensuing year estimated at $17 million.

“It’s very important that they (voters) are informed, we want them to act in good information,” Gay said. “SB 1 is extremely important to our area, as controversial as it might be, it’s really important because it’s providing that backfilling of funding that we haven’t had since 2010.”

He said he understands the public’s concerns with paying more at the pump but thinks the ultimate price of rescinding the gas-tax in the November ballot can be costly for the local community including the agricultural industry which relies on local roads to transport their goods.

“Ag is our number one economic driver here. Having roads that can support that industry has to be one of our primary concerns,” Gay said. “We’re either going to pay for it at the pump or we’re going to pay for it with more bridge closures.”

Under SB 1, county and cities have to approve a list of roads they intend to work on to get the SB 1 funding each year.