HOT SPRINGS – Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday created a working group of state highway officials, business representatives, legislators, education leaders and others to recommend ways to address the funding gap for the state’s highway system.
The Republican governor signed an executive order creating a 20-member panel to come up with recommendations by Dec. 15 on changes to state highway funding, which currently relies primarily on gas and diesel taxes. Hutchinson said he hoped to appoint members to the panel by Monday.
“Highway funding has to be re-examined here in Arkansas,” Hutchinson told members of the Arkansas Trucking Association at the group’s conference.
Hutchinson earlier this year had promised to create the working group after a highway funding bill he opposed stalled in the state Legislature. The proposal would have gradually transferred tax revenue from car-related items from the state’s general fund to highways over a 10-year period. Finance officials said the proposal would have cost the state nearly $35 million in the coming fiscal year and $548 million once fully implemented.
Supporters of the transfer proposal say the move was needed to address the gap between funding and road needs. Arkansas highway officials say they have $20.4 billion in needs over the next decade, but only $3.6 billion in expected revenue from the state and federal government.
Hutchinson said diverting the money would have threatened his proposed budget. Advocacy groups had also said the proposal would threaten other budget needs, such as public schools and higher education.
“We’ve got to look at the different funding of models across the United States in the fuel-efficient car world,” Hutchinson told reporters after his speech. “I want to make sure I get an understanding of our current revenue stream and the needs that are there.”
Hutchinson’s order calls for the panel to include the state Highway and Transportation Department director, a member of the state Highway Commission and lawmakers, as well as local officials and representatives of the state Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Higher Education. The panel will be chaired by Hutchinson’s budget director.
“We want to have it wide-ranging so those who are worried about our normal general revenue budget, that their voice is heard,” Hutchinson said. “Unless we get a consensus, we’re not going to be able to change anything.”
The working group is the latest attempt in recent years to address highway funding. Voters in 2012 approved a half-cent sales tax to pay for highway needs and a year earlier supported renewing a $575 million bond program. Both proposals were recommendations issued by a blue ribbon committee in 2010.
(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, broadcast or distributed.)
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