Budget Includes No New Money For Highway Projects Property Tax Cuts Expected To Eat Up Spending On Roads

With roads taking a back seat to tax cuts, Sen. Eugene Prince opened hearings Tuesday on his proposed state transportation budget that includes no money for new road or highway projects.

Prince, a Thorton, Wash., Republican who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, said property tax cuts being pushed in the Legislature could eat into spending on roads.

His $3.2 billion budget would maintain current spending but provide nothing for the millions of dollars of new projects being requested.

The Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce alone is lobbying for $104 million in projects for the 1997-99 biennium.

Those projects include widening and improving Interstate 90, providing alternative forms of transportation, and increasing maintenance and repair work.

Nearly $400 million is being requested by the chamber over the next six years.

Instead of building new projects, Prince would shift about $41 million to maintenance, preservation and safety projects. That would help pay for highway resurfacing and such improvements as crosswalk markings and traffic signals.

“The problem is (legislators) have used all the money they can use in tax cuts,” Prince said. “I probably won’t try to fund any new projects if we don’t get anything else.”

A plan to transfer an additional $100 million in motor vehicle excise tax revenue per year from the general fund to the transportation budget is no longer certain.

In the 1995-97 biennium, $215 million of the $1.4 billion generated by the tax went to transportation.

Additionally, Prince’s attempts to increase the gasoline tax haven’t caught on.

In Spokane, only a gas tax increase would guarantee more money for streets, although additional motor vehicle excise tax money would likely be spread around the state.

Gasoline taxes will cover 23 percent of the city’s projected transportation spending this year.

The city’s transportation budget is $12.5 million and officials say about $6 million more is needed per year to keep decaying city streets in shape.

Prince hopes hearings this week on his budget proposal will show the need for more spending. He’d like to increase the gas tax about six cents per gallon.

“He’s bringing out a budget to show people graphically what the situation is,” said Rep. Karen Schmidt, R-Bainbridge Island.

Schmidt, who is chair of the House Transportation Committee, said other legislators see the need for a gas tax increase but don’t have support from their constituents.

“Legislators see the problems but they don’t feel the public is educated to the need,” she said.

“I’ve been reading stacks of mail since I got to Olympia,” said Sen. Bob Oke, R-Port Orchard. “I’ve yet to have anyone write to me asking for an increase in the gas tax.”

Hearings on the transportation budget are scheduled to continue today and Thursday. , DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TRANSPORTATION BUDGET The two-year state transportation budget proposed by Senate Transportation Committee chairman Eugene Prince, R-Thornton, contains no money for new projects. Here are some of the increases over the previous budget. $30 million more for highway and bridge improvements. $6 million more for highway maintenance. $5 million more for traffic operations to improve safety measures such as marking crosswalks, coordinating traffic signals and installing roadway signs.