Letter to the Editor
Reasonable people can debate and disagree on the role of government in America today. There are many areas the government - be it federal or state – is involved in these days that the private sector is better equipped to handle and is likely the proper sector to handle. What’s for certain, however, is that matters related to roads and bridges are not one of those areas. Infrastructure is an exclusively governmental province; at the state level, it is the Legislature’s responsibility to provide funds and policies for maintaining quality roads and bridges. Quality roads and bridges will benefit all Mississippians: children will be safer traveling on buses to and from school; parents will be safer on their commutes to and from work; and businesses will be able to deliver goods and services without costly detours around defunct roads and bridges. Providing safe roads and bridges for the citizens of Mississippi is not merely something we should do, this is something we have to do...something we absolutely must do. To that end, the House Republicans have continued to work since the end of the regular session to develop plans that will help alleviate the road and bridge problems plaguing drivers and businesses all across the state.
In preparation for the upcoming special session, House leadership developed several new plans to fund roads and bridges and offered those plans to the Senate, the governor and the public for their consideration. Additionally, the House ended the regular legislative session with plans to fund roads and bridges that were never given due consideration from the other end of the Capitol. We intend to resurrect those plans during the special session and create a transportation package to address our road and bridge needs.
There are four new “short-term” ideas that we’ve developed since the end of the regular session that if enacted could be implemented in the next few months and would put us on the right track. Those plans are the Local Option Fuel Tax, bonding through the Gaming Sinking Fund, New Road Moratorium, and removing the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) from under the State Personnel Board.
The local option fuel tax (LOFT) is designed to give citizens in counties and municipalities the ability to tax themselves to fund local road improvements through a referendum process. This plan sets a tax rate range, along with a maximum cap, for fuel and diesel purchased within a county. Cities and counties, with the consent of voters, will be allowed to levy the fuel tax at any amount within that range. All money collected through this process will remain within the county for use by the local government.
Using a portion of the existing stream of revenue from the Gaming Sinking Fund (GSF) to issue bonds that will be paid back over time is a good option for repairing bridges that will likely last for 30 or so years. The Gaming Sinking Fund’s purpose is to provide a source of revenue to maintain roads and bridges in gaming counties and counties adjacent to gaming counties. This plan, if enacted, will have an immediate impact on the roads and bridges in those counties.
We also want to implement a new road moratorium that would bar MDOT from constructing new roads and bridges around the state, requiring MDOT instead to focus the dollars they receive on maintaining the roads and bridges we currently have. It makes little sense to create new roads and bridges if we cannot maintain the roads and bridges we have.
Finally, we want to remove MDOT from under the state personnel board and allow them the flexibility to right size the agency and find savings wherever they can. This ties in with one of our plans from the regular session that required MDOT to find savings within the agency that it could then direct towards road and bridge maintenance in exchange for additional money from the state. If we want agencies to be efficient then we should give them the tools to accomplish it.
These are the plans that we have presented to our counterparts in the Senate and to the governor. We hope that all sides are willing to sit down to help us solve the problems we face. Our state’s long-term viability is at stake and we need serious, committed legislators who are willing to sit down, talk and come up with solutions now instead of passing the buck on to the next generation.
Bill Kinkade
House of Representatives
District 52