Legislators talk new taxes, fees

LINCOLN — If Nebraskans want better roads, they’ll have to pay higher taxes and fees to get them.

That was the primary message of everyone who testified Friday at a legislative hearing on the state’s road construction needs.

The tax-and-fee options pitched at the hearing included traditional fuel and sales taxes, new occupation taxes on fuel wholesalers and higher state fees to license cars and trucks.

Another proposal was letting cities like Omaha and Lincoln levy a special sales tax of perhaps a quarter-cent to pay off road-building bonds.

“The bottom line is that increased revenue is needed for necessary upgrades in our system’’ of roads and bridges, said Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler.

He was among those testifying before the Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, which is studying alternatives to the state’s current means of raising money for road construction and maintenance.

State Sen. Deb Fischer of Valentine, committee chairwoman, said she has scheduled hearings across the state to see what citizens want and if they are happy with a maintenance-only highway program.

If they want things like the Heartland Expressway across the Panhandle, a south beltway around Lincoln or a four-lane Nebraska 133 between Omaha and Blair, they’ll “have to pay for it,” she said.

Fischer said she had no “silver bullet” for solving the state’s road-funding woes.

Monty Frederickson, recently promoted to director of the Nebraska Department of Roads, said the mainstay of roads funding — the state fuel tax — is slowly declining due to more fuel-efficient vehicles and reduced driving.

Frederickson said 2007 was the “high-water mark” for fuel taxes, with $332 million collected.

During the last fiscal year, he said, the state collected $315 million, about $20 million more than what is needed to maintain — not to improve — the state’s existing $7.5 billion network of roads and bridges.

By next year, the state will likely collect enough only for preservation of existing roads, Frederickson said, expressing concern whether there will be money to complete the widening of Interstate 80 to six lanes between Omaha and Lincoln.

However, federal stimulus dollars coming into Nebraska will provide a short-term boost to roads funding.

The state expects to spend a record $487 million on road construction in 2009-10, and that includes $158 million in stimulus money.

But the state’s long-term roads funding dominated the discussion, with representatives of contractors, engineers and local governments offering plenty of ideas:

Ÿ Raise state fees to license motor vehicles, particularly on older cars that cause as much wear and tear as new cars.

Ÿ Increase the state fuel tax, now 26.4 cents per gallon.

Ÿ Allow local governments and the state to issue bonds for highway construction, as done in 42 states.

Ÿ Levy higher sales or occupation taxes to pay off such bonds.

Voters in Phoenix recently gave overwhelming support for a quarter-cent sales tax hike when told it would translate into better roads, said Dan Park of the American Council of Engineering Companies-Nebraska.

Sen. Tim Gay of Papillion was wary about raising taxes, saying the state first needs to determine if road maintenance funds could be shifted to road widening projects and if any money is wasted on non-highway programs.

The other public hearings on roads funding:

Ÿ Wednesday, 10:30 a.m., Ockinga Seminar Center at the University of Nebraska at Kearney; 5 p.m., Mid-Plains Community College, North Platte.

Ÿ Thursday, 2 p.m. MDT at Western Nebraska Community College, Room FO11, Scottsbluff.

Ÿ Friday, 9 a.m. MDT at the Alliance Learning Center, Alliance.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com