Governor Proposes Increased Funding for Bridges

One bridge in seven in Maine is structurally deficient, according to data gathered by the Federal Highway Administration in 2007. This compares to a nationwide average of one in eight. To address the problem, Governor John Baldacci yesterday submitted a bill to the Legislature that would raise an additional $40 million a year through increases in fees for motor vehicle registrations, titles, and vanity plates. The new revenues would boost spending on bridges to over $100 million annually.

Car registrations would jump 40% from $25 to $35. Reviewing registration fees in other states, one cannot easily determine whether the new fee in Maine would be above or below average. Some states charge a flat fee, while others have sliding scales based on vehicle weight, age, horsepower, or sticker price. Comparisons are apples-to-asparagus, at best. While a fee proportional to vehicle weight makes sense--after all, heavier loads have greater impacts--such a fee is better collected at the pump, where fuel usage captures both weight and miles driven.

35 bucks seems cheap to me. Last fall Delaware doubled its fee from $20 to $40. California Governor Arnold Terminator wants to go from $41 to $52, Wisconsin DOT from $55 to $80. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has floated the idea of a one-hundred-dollar increase. Triple-digit registration fees, I predict, will be commonplace within five years.

And for good reason. As long as we pour hundreds of billions of dollars into securing and rebuilding Iraq and trillions of dollars into treating and managing lifestyle diseases, we will not have enough left to restore our transportation infrastructure without new user fees. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick wants to borrow to build now and figure out the revenue sources later. This morning he is unveiling a $3.8 billion bond proposal to repair more than 400 bridges over the next eight years.

Governor Patrick points out that aside from the issue of public safety, the initiative will create jobs during an anticipated economic downturn. We should be doing the same in Maine: putting people to work in order to pave the way to future prosperity.