Senate can’t decide on gas-tax hike

The Ohio Senate rolled out several transportationbudget policy changes Tuesday, including eliminating House-passed regulations on traffic cameras and electric scooters, but Republicans are still struggling with what to do about the state gasoline tax.

Gov. Mike Dewine wants an 18-cents-a-gallon hike. The House wants a per-gallon increase of 10.7 cents, and 20 cents for diesel fuel. The Senate is expected to go for a smaller increase than the House did.

“We’re not just treading water; we’re actually going backwards with that bill,” Dewine said last

week of the House measure, arguing that a smaller increase than he proposed would not allow for major road construction.

Disagreement remains over how much new revenue the state needs to keep up with road and bridge maintenance, complete safety projects and finish major road-construction projects, including several phases of the Interstate 70/71 interchange requiring hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We have a general idea of what we think the need is for the state at this point,” said Sen. Rob Mccolley, R-napoleon, chairman of the Transportation Committee. He did not specify an amount, but the number is expected to be far below the $1.2 billion per year that Dewine says is needed.

“A lot of it is analysis,” Mccolley said. “A lot is also a method of prioritization in policy of the legislature ... as to what we think is the appropriate level of funding.”

The Senate also is expected to reduce the $100 million a year the House approved for public transit, possibly down to the $40 million proposed by Dewine.

“We’re committed to figuring out what the actual need is and then trying to fund whatever that is,” said Senate President Larry Obhof, R-medina. “Members need time to process the data.”

The Senate might vote on the transportation budget — with gas-tax changes — on Thursday, or wait until Monday.

Dewine has met with senators individually and has been assisted by a coalition that includes officials of local governments and local chambers of commerce from across the state.

Holly Gross, vice president of government relations for the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, said in written testimony to senators that central Ohio is expanding and the I-70/71 innerbelt exceeds design capacity by 50,000 vehicles.

“Traffic congestion is a top concern for businesses, costing Ohio motorists a total of $4.6 billion each year in the form of lost time, productivity and wasted fuel,” she wrote.

Sidney Mayor Mike Barhorst told senators that his city of 21,000 in western Ohio approved a 0.25 percent increase in its income-tax rate in 2014 because of state funding cuts, and in May will ask for a new levy, half of which would fund street and bridge work.

Even if the levy passes, Barhorst said, the city has more than $15 million in unfunded road and bridge projects over the next five years.

The mayor wants a partnership “to address infrastructure needs and stop kicking the can down the road — or the need will be so great that we will never catch up.”

Ohio’s 28-cent gas tax, last increased in 2005, is lower than that in all the surrounding states except Kentucky, where it’s 26 cents. Gas-tax revenue can be used only for roads and bridges.

Many of the Senate’s changes in the transportation budget on Tuesday removed policy proposals by the governor and House. Among them, the Senate:

• Removed language designed to significantly limit cities’ use of traffic cameras.

• Removed proposed state regulations of lowspeed electric scooters. Mccolley said scooters don’t travel from one town to another, so uniform regulation is not needed.

• Removed a proposal to allow cities and townships to impose an additional $5 license fee. Roads and bridges are essential government services, Mccolley said. “A standard Ohioan is not going to look for their taxes or fees to go up to pay for essential services.”

• Reduced the Housepassed fees for electric and hybrid vehicles by $25 — to $175 for electric and $75 for hybrids.

The Senate also, in the wake of a Dispatch story about registrars charging a $1.50 fee for laminating driver’s licenses even though registrars no longer issue those licenses, proposed keeping the fee but calling it “document processing.” Also, instead of increasing registrar fees from $3.50 to $5, as the House proposed, the Senate would allow an increase to $5.25.