BENTONVILLE -- Two competing bills for paying for state highways were debated by their sponsors Saturday morning at a forum where a third option surfaced.
State Reps. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville, and Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, weighed the pros and cons of their bills at a forum hosted by the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce at the Northwest Arkansas Community College campus.
Douglas sponsors House Bill 1346. That bill would divert a portion of the state's sales tax to roads, but only after receipts from that tax grew over the years. Highways would get a share of that money without cutting into existing receipts paying for other state services.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson opposes the bill. Douglas said he expects to meet with the governor Tuesday.
The state's highway taxes come from a fuel tax of about 22 cents per gallon of gasoline. Hendren's bill, HB 1048, would convert that figure to a percentage of the cost. With gasoline prices low, that percentage would mean more revenue for the highways as the price of gasoline increases.
Problems at the federal level underlie the state Highway and Transportation Department's requests for more money. The Federal Highway Trust Fund is projected to run out of money again before summer. Congress has been unable so far to agree on a permanent fix.
Because of this, the department has postponed awarding contracts on eight projects totaling an estimated $58 million and canceled $50 million in maintenance.
Fuel taxes are a fading source of revenue, whatever percentage they are taxed at, Douglas said. Cars are becoming more fuel efficient every year, he said. Taxing gasoline at a higher rate will also draw severe opposition when gas prices go up and consumers find those rising prices are compounded by a bigger tax bite, he said.
"Unless all the surrounding states do this, people are going to be paying 30 cents a gallon more here than than they are in Mississippi, Missouri and Texas," Douglas said. "They're going to be screaming their heads off."
Hendren countered, "If you use it, you ought to pay for it. We shouldn't tax some single mom's diapers and baby formula to pay for the highway I drive on to Little Rock."
There is a third, better option, volunteered Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs. Get control of state medical costs and divert money from there to highways. "We're 17 percent above the national average on Medicaid costs," Hendren said. "If we could get our state's costs just down to the national average, that's $170 million a year. Then we wouldn't be having these debates on whether we should be robbing Peter to pay Paul."
"Doing that will anger a lot of people who put a lot of money into politics, because there's a lot of people making a lot of money off our spending," Jim Hendren said. "So it's going to be tough to even attempt reform." The senator's remarks drew applause.
In an unscheduled announcement, an NWACC spokesman said at the forum that Keven Anderson of Rogers, a former state representative, has been named to the college's board of trustees. The governor has not confirmed his appointment, Anderson said. Members of the board are elected. The District 7 seat is vacant, according to the college's website.
NW News on 02/22/2015