LANSING – While the proposal to increase the state’s fuel taxes and registration fees would raise a substantial amount of money, the hit to individual motorists’ pocketbooks would be small, Transportation Director Kirk Steudle told a joint meeting of the House and Senate Transportation committees.

Given the current range of vehicle mileage and commuting distances, he said the 3 cents per gallon annual increase proposed in the package would cost between 22 cents and 58 cents a week.

“When we say this break everybody’s back, really? A half a pack of gum will break everybody’s back?” he said.

The plan is a modification of the proposal by the Transportation Funding Task Force that would base both gasoline and diesel fuel taxes on the wholesale price, but would not allow the tax to grow more than 3 cents a gallon each year. And the overall taxes would not increase to more than 34 cents a gallon, a reduction from earlier proposals.

The proposal also includes vehicle registration fee increases, both by charging more to renew plates and by moving to $3,000 vehicle value bands, increasing fees on some vehicles at the low ends of the new bands.

The proposal also increases taxes on aviation fuel.

Though most comments from the two committees indicated more concern with being sure there would be enough funding for the state to match federal grants, Rep. Marty Knollenberg (R-Troy) argued the political climate would make it difficult to pass the proposed increases.

“I think the case has been made. I think all of us up here agree we need more money for roads,” Knollenberg said. “The problem is the funding mechanism. …Did the task force consider the political heat us legislators might take?”

And Knollenberg was particularly critical that not all of the leadership, legislative and executive, had put themselves on record supporting the plan.

“If we’re going to move this thing forward, we’re going to need the top leaders in the state to step up,” he said. “They’re AWOL.”

While he asked Steudle to back his criticism of the leadership, Steudle declined.

“I’m not going to comment on the leaders,” Steudle said.

Other members of the committees agreed there would be political heat for proposing the increases, but they all argued legislators should step up and work to educate their constituents on the need for the plan.

But Sen. Ray Basham (D-Taylor) said he would also push for provisions in the package to reduce the weight limits on large trucks on the state’s highways. He argued the additional weight the state allows over the limits in other states leads to faster deterioration of its roadways. He also argued for additional enforcement of those weight limits.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

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