The Georgia legislature passed a $1-billion transportation funding plan last week, which transportation consultants and state officials made clear was the bare minimum needed to bring the state’s transportation system up to snuff.
The bill raises the gas tax for the average driver by about 6 cents a gallon starting July 1, 2016. It also imposes a new $5-per-night fee on hotel stays, a $200 annual fee on noncommercial electric vehicles ($300 for commercial) and $50-to-$100 fee on heavy trucks. And it would eliminate tax breaks for Delta Air Lines and electric vehicle owners.
The new motor fuel excise tax rate of 26 cents per gallon (29 cents for diesel) is tied both to inflation and increased fuel efficiency. It could grow at a rate of 6% for the first two years, assuming a 3.5% rate of inflation and a 2.5% increase in fuel efficiency standards, said Baruch Feigenbaum, a policy analyst for the Libertarian Reason Foundation. After that, its potential rate of increase should slow because the new law will no longer tie the motor fuel tax to inflation after 2018.
The Georgia DOT will focus on whittling down a $500-million backlog in deferred maintenance projects — doing things like fixing potholes, filling cracks in asphalt and bracing bridges – state Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
