Next to tackling our affordable housing crisis, most Sonoma County voters and taxpayers put fixing their horrible roads at the top of their “to do” lists. Let’s just hope that when it comes time to join the rest of California and spend billions on a series of housing subsidies, bonds and fees that we don’t suffer the same deal Gov. Jerry Brown just cost us with his $52 billion gas tax larceny.
On the surface, any help for road repairs looks good and a 12-cent per gallon gas tax increase doesn’t seem too rude for our pocketbooks. After all, Sonoma County roads need almost $1 billion ($954 million) in upgrades, or $47.7 million a year for the next 20 years. It’s accepted wisdom that any road repair delayed is a road repair made more costly.
Gov. Brown’s new gas tax increase promises to bring $12 million a year to county roads projects and another $8 million for city streets.
Sounds like a good start, right? Sorry, we don’t think it adds up.
To get the $20.7 million from the governor’s plan, county vehicle owners will pay $26 million for a new annual $65 per vehicle registration fee. The state’s new plan promises millions more in matching funds for other local transportation projects, but they come with the added cost of the higher gas tax, estimated at $10 per vehicle, per month.
No matter how you try to sell this “road fix,” those numbers add up to really bad math. With 1,380 miles of county-owned roads and a semi-rural population of motorists, Gov. Brown’s $52 billion transportation plan is another shaft job on the state’s more rural areas.
The governor’s plan, supported by two-thirds of all state legislators including our local ones, was approved on a fast-track schedule with very limited public input. To win his final votes, Gov. Brown made a $1 billion deal with a single legislator in Merced for two sweetheart projects.
But if gas taxes and more highway bonds aren’t the answer to fixing our roads, what is?
If you’re looking for $52 billion in Sacramento, how about peeling away at the $55 billion in annual tax shelters and special credits the Legislative Analyst’s Office just revealed. Maybe it’s finally time to tax California oil wells and gas field exploration, like all other states.
One thing is sure; Sonoma County’s roads will keep losing if our fortunes are tied to the current gas tax formula. It should also be mentioned that a 12-cent gas tax hike will be hardest on working families with limited budgets who will pay the same per-gallon fee that much higher income households will pay. That’s a 43 percent tax increase at the pump, in case you want to see some real math.
It is not too late to amend Gov. Brown’s gas tax and transportation plan. While Senate Bill 1 is now passed, several more attachment bills must still be worked on in the coming weeks in Sacramento. Maybe Sonoma County could win one of those $1 billion Modesto sweetheart deals. What about that Mssrs. McGuire, Wood, Dodd and Levine?
Our elected officials should know by now how Sonoma County taxpayers feel about taxes, potholes and roads. They thumped the county’s Measure A in June 2015 that offered an unbinding promise of $20 million for roads.
Next, the Sonoma County Transportation Authority (SCTA) may ask voters next year (2018) to extend the 2004 Measure M quarter-cent sales tax for road and transit projects. SCTA needs the tax extension because they have been issuing lots of bonds to pay for Highway 101 widening and local anti-congestion projects.
We think county voters will want to see some superior math and new road funding formulas before they reach for their pocketbooks a next time. We want rewards for using renewable energy and fuels, combating climate change and riding our trains and bicycles.
Fossil fuel math is the wrong answer.
