State commission OKs transporation funding proposal

ANNAPOLIS — A state panel called for a 15-cent increase to Maryland’s gasoline tax Tuesday among a raft of proposed tax and fee hikes that would be used to pay for the state’s long, and growing, list of highway, transit and other transportation projects.

The recommendations made by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Maryland Transportation Funding also include higher vehicle registration fees, titling taxes, Motor Vehicle Administration fees and transit fares.

“Our plan is to make everyone a little upset, not to have one or two people really upset,” said Gus Bauman, the commission’s chairman. “We need to have something we can swallow. It won’t be a pleasant experience, but we need to be adults about this. We have a serious problem here. The federal spigot has run dry.”

After framing their recommendations this month, commissioners added one significant piece Tuesday. Their report will push for a study on using local revenue authorities to provide additional funding for rail and bus networks.

The recommendation did not specify how the authorities could raise revenue. Such entities in other states have focused on local additions to the sales tax to pay for transit.

“What really is needed here, because mass transit is so expensive, is another source of revenue to pay for mass transit,” said commission member Lon Anderson, director, public and government information for AAA Mid-Atlantic.

“We’re talking about major additional needs and you can’t raise the gas tax high enough to cover them,” he said.

The mass transit versus highways debate is almost certain to be repeated during the General Assembly session as rural lawmakers push back against statewide tax increases that would be used to pay for transit projects that primarily serve urban and suburban areas.

Donald C. Fry, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee and a former state delegate and senator, said the ability to create regional transit authority with the ability to levy taxes is “something that’s missing” from the transportation funding equation in Maryland.

The commission’s report, due to the governor and General Assembly on Nov. 1, will set the stage for debate on the issue when lawmakers return to Annapolis in January.

Transportation is expected to be a top issue during the session, and Gov. Martin O’Malley has said he is “considering” the gas tax proposal as part of his effort to stimulate hiring by increasing transportation spending.

Del. Carolyn J.B. Howard, D-Prince George’s, serves on the commission and chairs the Transportation Subcommittee of the tax-setting Ways and Means Committee.

“This is the year of transportation,” Howard said. “I don’t know if we can count on next year. Next year will be a different priority.”

The state spends about $3.5 billion on transportation annually, including $2.2 billion from state sources, $760 million from the federal government and $550 million from tolls.

The commission recommended the gas tax be central to reaching the $870 million the state estimates it needs to cover maintenance and construction in its transportation system every year.

The gas tax has been 23.5 cents per gallon since 1992. The commission’s plan would raise the tax by 5 cents per year for three years, and index it to inflation after that, to bring in $491 million per year.

A 50 percent hike in registration fees would bring in $165 million more, and bumping the titling tax to 6.5 percent or eliminating an allowance for vehicle trade-ins would yield $70 million. Maryland Transit Administration fare increases would bring in $28 million and higher MVA fees, $34 million. Doubling the cost of emissions inspections to $28 would bring in $22 million.

The commission’s recommendations hinge on the state protecting the Transportation Trust Fund from budgetary raids — governors of both parties have dipped into the fund since the mid-1980s — and returning transportation aid to counties and cities.

Maryland has used about $1 billion in local highway and transit aid to patch its budget shortfalls in the last three years.

“I think we’re at a point now we can no longer borrow,” said Del. Tawanna P. Gaines, D-Prince George’s, a commission member and chair of the House subcommittee that sets transportation spending policy. “I think new revenue is definitely needed.”

Bauman and other commissioners said Maryland has fallen behind in maintaining a competitive transportation network that will allow the state’s economy to grow. The top transportation priorities in each jurisdiction total $12 billion and without new revenue, projects like the Red Line and Purple Line likely will not come to fruition, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation.

“We’re like the Philadelphia Phillies,” said Bauman. “They should be in the World Series, but they blew it.”