Haslam to Launch Statewide Campaign to Raise Funding for Highways

CHATTANOOGA, TN. (WDEF-TV) – In Tennessee, no highway project is started until the job is already paid for. But transportation funding is declining and Governor Bill Haslam is launching a statewide campaign to look at raising the tax on gasoline.
The Governor says he expects to see some opposition—and some support from legislators.

Republicans may have a super-majority in Tennessee but that doesn’t mean they always agree.
Governor Bill Haslam says funding for state highway projects and infrastructure is declining and he sees a gasoline tax increase as a way to fix the problem. Not everyone is ready to fight him on it.

SEN. TODD GARDENHIRE, (R) CHATTANOOGA "As long as my constituents can see its spent on highways and the roads, and not a lot of this extra fluff that the federal government demands that we put it on…I think they would support it. I don’t know where I’m at yet."

Gardenhire, who led the opposition to Haslam’s Insure Tenn proposal earlier this year, had lunch with the governor this week. He says his main concern is lack of progress on I-24 and I-75.

Gasoline distributors are taking a long look at the tax proposal, and at least one of them has strong opinions about the idea.

STEVE RAY, OWNER, MIDNITE OIL COMPANY "15 to 25% of the cost of gasoline is already taxed. Where does it end..is what I want to know? And where did the money from the last tax increase go? I know everything’s crumbling…falling apart by how much can the consumer bear? "

Some leaders in the Tennessee General assembly are taking more of a wait-and-see approach.

SEN. "BO" WATSON, SENATE PRO TEM "We’re not in a crisis point yet. So we actually have the opportunity to play with some innovative ideas that may or may not work…but before we immediately go to then usual paradigm of lets raise taxes…I think the public expects us to have a conversation about it."

Watson says there are other ways to raise the needed funding.
Meanwhile, consumers fear the worst.

BRETT STOKES, PARAMEDIC "The tax will be here to stay…the low prices on fuel will not. Its a bad situation all around."

Senator Watson says other states are also dealing with the cost of highways.
He says they are looking at charging for actual use of the roads, and in some cases, striking partnerships with private organizations.