Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) Chairman Greg Jamian yesterday joined a group of top leaders from Southeast Michigan at the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) offices to urge the state Legislature to support the road-funding package passed recently by the Michigan Senate and supported by Governor Snyder.
In addition to Jamian, the group included Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, SEMCOG Executive Director Kathleen Lomako and numerous representatives of county and local governments across the region, including Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett.
RCOC Chairman Greg Jamian speaking
at the SEMCOG event.
On his left are SEMCOG Executive Director Kathleen Lomako, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel,
and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano.
On Jamian’s right is Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett and Washington Twp. Supervisor Dan O’Leary.
According to the press release, all the officials present urged the Legislature to move quickly to enact the Senate’s road-funding proposal. The group also expressed concerns with a proposal passed by the Michigan House, which would divert revenue from the sales tax on gas from schools and local communities to fund roads.
“We greatly appreciate that both the Senate and the House have acknowledged we have a road-funding crisis and are working to resolve it,” Jamian said. “Michigan has not invested adequately in roads for more than 50 years, and the data is clear: Our roads are in bad shape. We need additional funding to repair Michigan’s roads, and we need it now.”
The plan approved by the Senate would convert Michigan’s 19-cent gas tax to a percentage of the wholesale price of gas, and would then increase that percentage from 9.5 percent to 15.5 percent over the next four years. In all, the bill is expected to generate between $780 million and $1.5 billion per year by 2018.
The plan approved by the House would eliminate the 6 percent sales tax on gas, convert the gas tax to a percentage of the wholesale price and raise the percentage from 7.5 percent in 2016 to 13.5 percent in 2021. Currently most of the revenue from the sales tax on gas goes to Michigan’s schools and the state’s cities, villages and townships through “revenue sharing.”
The House proposal assumes state revenues will grow enough in coming years to make up for the lost revenue for schools and municipalities. However, if school revenues remain stagnant, the sales tax on gas would be re-enacted and the increased road funding would disappear.
Jamian noted this means there is no guarantee that road funding levels would be sustained under the House plan. “We cannot program road projects or plan future improvements without a consistent funding level,” he noted. He added that waiting two years for new funding, as would be the case with the House bill, is too long.
“We need this money absolutely as soon as possible to start fixing the roads,” he said.
The House and Senate are now in the process of naming a conference committee that will meet next week to try to find a compromise between the House and Senate bills before the two chambers are scheduled to break for the year at the end of next week.
“It’s imperative that the Legislature gets something done next week. If they fail to do that, we will start all over again with many new members in the Legislature in January, and the likelihood of getting a road funding solution anytime soon will be minimal,” Jamian said.
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