Transportation Bond

Transportation Bond

A blue ribbon transportation panel has asked lawmakers to consider a bond of at least $1 billion for roads and public transit projects. A major debt referendum on transportation may have a better chance in an election year than Monday's proposal from Democratic Gov. Mike Easley to raise cigarette and alcohol taxes for teacher raises and mental health care. "What you'll see is us trying to address all the needs, but not everybody will get everything we want," said House Speaker Joe Hackney, D-Orange. But he added: "We need to have some progress on transportation this session." The 21st Century Transportation Committee's recommendations, released just before the House and Senate convened, would build urban loops, reduce congestion, repair bridges and widen intrastate roads. The state Transportation Department has projected a $65 billion shortfall in transportation funding during the next two decades.

The panel of elected officials, transportation experts and business executives said lawmakers also should end a $172 million annual transfer from the Highway Trust Fund to the general operating fund, using much of the money to repay the bonds. The rest -- up to $45 million next year -- would help start toll road projects. No exact bond level was recommended by the committee. "The Legislature is going to have to weigh out what is appropriate," said Stephen Zelnak Jr., chief executive of Martin Marietta Materials, which makes road-building materials. Any bond package of less than $1 billion wouldn't be worth taking to voters, he said.
The panel also didn't say how it would close the hole in the state budget created by ending the transfer. Easley's $21.5 billion budget proposal, released Monday, would phase out the transfer over time. Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, seems to agree with that idea. "I think we'll begin to do something about the transfer but I don't think we have the resources to do it completely one full-fell swoop," he said. The panel also proposed expanding how many metropolitan counties can use local tax options to pay for public transportation needs. That money could be used to draw down matching funds from the state paid for with a bond. But Brad Wilson, chairman of the panel, said local tax options may have to wait another year, given legislators' opposition to new taxes.

(Gary D. Robertson, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 5/13/08).