NASHVILLE – Gov. Bill Haslam will bring his road tour to Chattanooga and Cleveland this week as he seeks to build public support in the state Legislature next year for new revenue to address growing transportation needs.
The Republican governor is scheduled to make his pitch to the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce on the state’s transportation and infrastructure needs on Wednesday morning. Later in the afternoon, the Cleveland-Bradley Chamber of Commerce will hear from Haslam as well.
It’s part of Haslam’s 15-city tour in which he, Transportation Commissioner John Schroer and others hope to make the case that a growing population, new road needs and a $6 billion project backlog warrant more funding.
Gov. Bill Haslam, left, and John Schroer, right, commissioner of transportation, listen to a discussion during a meeting of Haslam’s 15-stop transportation funding tour Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015, in Nashville.The governor isn’t saying anything for now about where he intends to find the new revenue until he completes the tour, which is nearing its conclusion.
User fees in the form of fuel taxes are how Tennessee currently pays for its road, bridge and transportation system. It’s been just over 26 years since the state’s gas tax was last raised. The tax is currently pegged at 21.4 cents per gallon.
Federal funds, which account for just over half of the state transportation budget, also come from fuel taxes. But for years, Congress has been unable to come up with additional funding, leading to nearly three dozen short-term extensions or fixes for the federal highway bill.
But a number of Haslam’s fellow Republicans in the GOP-run state Legislature are wary of increasing gas taxes next year. Among them is Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville. Tracy, who plans his own road show this month, says something needs to be done but he isn’t willing to support a gas-tax increase until 2017. Tracy says the state needs a comprehensive approach to getting new revenues.
Tracy also wants general state government to repay the transportation fund $280 million he says were “raided” between 2001 and 2008 during the Sundquist and Bredesen administrations.
He is one of 13 senators and 37 representatives who have taken the Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee’s pledge not to vote for a gas tax increase next year.