West Newsmagazine 9-26-18

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September 26, 2018
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
I 17
PROP D, from page 11
constitutional requirements that state fueltax
increases only can be used to pay for
the cost of collecting the revenue, local and
state roads and bridges, and the actual Highway
Patrol costs of enforcing Missouri’s
laws on state highways.
Charton said the proposition’s passage
means that the new fuel tax revenue will go
to the Highway Patrol, freeing up money
appropriated by the General Assembly to
the Highway Patrol to be used for road construction
and maintenance.
Prop D and the average driver
For every 2.5 cents increase in the motor
fuel tax, the average driver will spend an
additional $1.28 per month, according to
Charton. In four years, when the tax reaches
10 cents, that cost will be $5.10 per month.
Rep. Jean Evans [R-District 99] said
Prop D “puts in statute a priority to fund
the Highway Patrol; no one can come along,
elected or unelected bureaucrat, and start
cutting their funding.”
“I think we really need to make people
understand that this is for law enforcement
as well [as infrastructure],” said State Rep.
Kathie Conway [R-District 104]. “We are
losing highway patrolman to [police departments
in] St. Louis County, probably to St.
Charles County [and] Kansas City because
they pay more.”
However, the lion’s share of attention on
Proposition D centers on addressing the
“deferred maintenance” that has been in
effect for decades in Missouri. The state has
the seventh largest transportation system
in the country but is 46th in the nation in
revenue spent per mile. In addition to major
highways, MoDOT maintains county roads,
designated by letters.
Patrick McKenna, director of MoDOT,
and St. Charles County Executive Steve
Ehlmann don’t use the phrase gas tax.
“It’s a user fee,” Ehlmann said.
One of the reasons that America has
been able to build its road system is that
it charged for the use of it, McKenna said.
“The more you drive, the more you pay. The
tax doesn’t scale to the side of the economy
the way other general taxes do like income
taxes and sale tax. They grow as the economy
grows, as the population grows. The
gas tax doesn’t, it’s purely based at present
on the number of gallons purchased.”
What has happened since the 1990s is
that the rate of inflation has caused the
state to lose purchasing power, McKenna
said. Costs continue to rise while revenue
remains flat. MoDOT has probably lost $50
to $60 million in purchasing power, which
isn’t critical for one year but starts to stack
up over decades, he said.
Voter passage of Proposition D won’t fix
everything. MoDOT has estimated that its
transportation needs annually hit as high as
$825 million. But it could restore the purchasing
power that the state fuel tax had in
the 1990s and is a “reasonable approach”
that doesn’t overwhelm the agency with too
much work, McKenna said.
“It puts us in a position to trend in the
right direction, we have been trending in the
wrong direction for over 30 years,” he said.
If the state can’t do everything, then what
are its priorities? The state maintains more
than 10,000 bridges. Of those, 922 are rated
“poor” by federal officials. The average age
of state bridges is more than 40 years old;
most are designed to last 50 years.
As an example of the challenges faced
statewide, McKenna noted that a 16-mile
section of I-270 from the Chain of Rocks
Bridge to the I-70 interchange has 16 interchanges
that are in bad shape. “We have
nets under those interchanges to keep the
pieces of concrete that are failing from hitting
vehicles,” McKenna said.
New money also may put the state in the
position to provide matching funds to obtain
federal highway funding that, in turn, could
pick up the costs of as much as 80 percent
of major highway and bridge projects. The
Trump administration has signaled that it
would cut regulations to provide federal
money but the local cost share may rise,
local officials have said.
Extra money also may allow MoDOT
to change some of its austerity measures.
“Right now, starting at winter, I’m upward
of 900 people short to plow snow this year,”
McKenna said. In past year, the state has
used supervisory personnel to plow snow.
Prop D and local cities
It’s not just a potential pile of money for
major road projects that has people looking
toward Proposition D, it’s also the local
money that will come the way of cities and
counties.
Cities and counties would divide up $123
million a year in new revenue from the
motor fuel tax if Proposition D is approved.
Funds would be distributed based on population
with West St. Louis County government
receiving a little more than $6 million
and St. Charles County more than $2 million.
In West St. Louis County, Ballwin would
receive $478,227; Chesterfield, $746,880;
and Wildwood, $558,651. In St. Charles
County, O’Fallon [the county’s largest city]
would receive $1.24 million; St. Peters,
$826,957; and Lake Saint Louis, $228,700.
That funding is restricted for transportation
use only.
Pat Kelly, executive director of the
Municipal League of Metro St. Louis,
which represents many St. Louis County
municipalities, said he expects a flurry of
activity by local municipalities if voters
approve Proposition D.
See PROP D, page 54
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