WEST DES MOINES – The board of the directors of the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) on Jan. 24 approved a resolution stating support of a fuel tax increase. Road funding is one of ISAC’s top legislative priorities this year as approved by the full membership.
Iowa’s roads and bridges are a vital component of the continued growth of the state’s economy, and every road jurisdiction is struggling to adequately maintain its portion of the road system. The cost of building and maintaining roads continues to increase, while the user fee per gallon of gasoline has not increased since 1989. In addition to general inflation, Iowa’s road maintenance issues have been exacerbated by harsh winters, floods, and heavy equipment usage.
Due to the shortfall in road funding, counties have turned to bonding in order to provide critical funding for maintenance of roads and bridges. These bonds are repaid with property tax revenues, contrary to the state’s goal of reducing property tax expenditures throughout the state. Additionally, the use of bonds fails to capture funding from the out-of-state vehicles impacting Iowa’s roads.
“The per gallon fuel tax is the most equitable way to charge for the use of public roads and bridges, and 20-30% of the revenue is generated from out-of-state travelers and businesses,” stated ISAC president Harlan Hansen. “ISAC supports a phased-in 10-cent increase in the per gallon fuel tax and the ongoing evaluation of long term, sustainable transportation funding solutions.”
The resolution requests that the Iowa legislature pass legislation to phase in a 10-cent per gallon increase in the fuel tax and other long term sustainable funding solutions and that the Governor encourage passage of this legislation and sign approval upon passage.
The full resolution can be found at http://www.iowacounties.org/.
The Iowa State Association of Counties is a private, nonprofit corporation whose members are county officials from the 99 counties in Iowa. ISAC’s mission is to promote effective and responsible county government for the people of Iowa. For further information visit the ISAC website at www.iowacounties.org. ~provided to GreeneCountyNewsOnline by county auditor Jane Heun
