Gas tax goes to voters

COLUMBIA BASIN —It will be up to the voters next month to decide whether or not to keep the gasoline tax passed by the legislature earlier this year.

The legislature passed the transportation package during the most recent legislative session, which accounted for a 3-cent rise in gas prices per gallon as of July 1, and will raise the gas tax a total of 9.5 cents over the next four years in order to pay for 265 specific transportation projects around the state.

Initiative 912 would take away that 9.5 cents. The passage of I-912 however, would not repeal the 23-cent-per-gallon basic motor vehicle tax rate nor the 5-cent-per-gallon package passed by the legislature in 2003. I-912 supporters argue that that the state is not getting value for these taxes from the Washington State Department of Transportation, but critics argue that the gas tax is offering a solution to crumbling roads that the initiative would do nothing to stop from further deterioration.

"There's more than enough money in those local projects if the Department of Transportation does the right thing," said Brett Bader, spokesman for yes912.com.

Bader didn't argue against gasoline taxes being used for road maintenance, but said he doesn't feel new gas tax money should be spent until the WSDOT is reformed. He added that taxpayers in the Columbia Basin are going to spend more in gas taxes than they will ever see in projects, adding that most of the money is heading to western Washington projects like the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the 520 bridge. By voting yes on I-901, Bader said the votes will send the message to Olympia that WSDOT needs reforming.

"This initiative is vital," Bader said, "the gas tax increase that was passed it was a bad bill at the wrong time."

But Terry Dorsing feels the initiative is misplaced. The Royal City business owner signed onto the No on 912 campaign to help improve roads in the state, and help stop lives from being lost on its highways.

"Primarily across the state, but particularly in eastern Washington, our roads are falling apart," Dorsing said.

Dorsing said the gas tax projects are very project specific, and if the issues aren't addressed now, those projects slated for improvements will continue to deteriorate. In Grant County, projects funded by the most recent gas tax will go to replacing the Potato Hill Bridge on Interstate 90, and the widening of Highway 17 to four lanes through Moses Lake.

Dorsing cited $4 billion from the gas tax and $4.5 billion from other sources that will be a start to address a transportation problem which still needs $90 billion in repairs. He said the tax package wasn't the best bill, but said it was a step in the right direction, and a step he said needs to be taken before the situation gets worse.

Dorsing said the funds have been appropriated and the people should vote against the measure to continue with the project and start dealing with the problem.

"If we vote this down, this problem does not go away; it just keeps getting bigger and it will cost us more later," he said.

According to a fiscal impact statement released by the Washington Secretary of State, passage of the initiative would eliminate approximately $5.5 billion in fuel taxes and net bond proceeds over 16 years. The loss of that funding would eliminate 80 percent of funding for 265 specified transportation projects and $562 million in fuel tax revenue for cities and counties.

Grant County Republican Chair Tom Dent said that he would like to see spending curtailed before more money is given to the state. Dent said he's all in favor of fixing state roads, but said the legislature shouldn't vote in favor of a tax just because pork (barrel spending) is coming out.

"I just think that the timing is wrong and we need some accountability in government," Dent said.

"I understand that we need to repair the roads," Dent said, but said that a vote for the initiative would be a vote to show the majority of the legislature that people have said no to gas taxes and the legislature hasn't listened.

Ellie Webb, however, sees the real problem as price gouging. The Grant County Democratic Chair said she was speaking for herself when she spoke about the critical repairs the gas tax would make to state road infrastructures.

"We just cannot put people's safety at risk for 3 cents a year on a gas tax," Webb said.

Webb said the state could take a lesson from recent disasters to learn what problems could arise if the infrastructure isn't fixed.

"I think we need to learn the lesson of what happens if you don't take care of safety problems before there are disasters," she said.

I-912 will go to voters on the November ballot, which will be mailed out in Grant County in the next few weeks.