Idaho Governor Butch Otter released the following opinion piece to the Press today. It looks like a showdown is brewing around transportation funding...
How do you think the Legislature will address transportation funding needs during this session? Do you think election-year politics will drive the outcome?
3 comments:
Of course this being an election year it will have an outcome on transportation funding or any other funding. In any election year the legislators are scared to make any funding decisions. They are more worried about their re-election than doing any State business. Look at their progress over the past 2 months, they have outlawed dog fighting and debated making milk the official State drink. Increasing vehicle license fees to $150 will hurt low income people, but it is better than a 6% sales tax on gas as proposed by the Transportation Board. On $3.00 @ gallon gas that is an 18 cents increase per gallon.
Thanks for the comments, OTRguy. Yes indeed, that was one of those Duh questions that really only has one answer. I posted an update at the top of the Blog today. The legislature is squirming a little bit today, and the political blogs are getting a little worked up. Regardless of the outcome, this will be interesting to watch as this session draws to an end.
Jeff
Gotta say it was pretty gutsy of Otter to float that $150 figure. I saw some comment from Mark Soderling earlier though about the state getting stingy with sharing roadway funds, and I agreed with him that it doesn't seem fair. Since the state gets most of the federal money, its awfully greedy for them to want a hefty license fee too. I think I could support a smaller license fee if the money went to local streets.
Post a Comment