FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information:
Month Day, 2009 Jay Finegan, 287-1445

Rep. Doug Thomas Offers Option for Highway Fund

AUGUSTA – With the proposed 5-cent gas tax apparently dead in the Legislature, State Rep. Doug Thomas has proposed an amendment to the Highway Fund budget to redirect approximately $34 million to fund repaving and maintenance over the next two years. The money would come from current fuel taxes that now flow to a separate account.

Rep. Thomas said he applauded the Senate action today that indefinitely postponed LD 1487, the legislation that would have added a 5-cent surcharge on gasoline starting on July 1. The fiscal impact statement on the bill estimated that the new tax would have generated $79.4 million over the two years.

“I’m glad to see that bill gone,” said Rep. Thomas (R-Ripley), a veteran member of the Transportation Committee. “It was a tax increase on Maine people of nearly $80 million during a recession. But the Highway Fund will still need money, and what I’m proposing is an alternative that uses existing money and does not increase taxes.”

The Thomas amendment would redirect some $34 million from current fuel taxes to fund maintenance paving or maintenance surface treatment projects over the two years of the budget.

“We already have $40 million going to the Maine Bond Bank to cover off-budget revenue bonds from increased license and title fees,” said Rep. Thomas. “That fund is currently authorized to issue $210 million in bonds. That’s enough for now. We can’t take all of our maintenance money and put it into long-term capital projects. We need some of it now so we can take care of our roads.”

The amendment also would restore $5 million to municipalities that would otherwise be allocated to the Highway Fund.

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