Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2009 > January > 15 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USPerdue to propose sweeping re-org of state transportation agencies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
More details on the biggest deal now cooking in the state Capitol:
Gov. Sonny Perdue is preparing a vast reorganization of the state’s transportation agencies that would centralize decision-making and could give him more control over the state Department of Transportation.
You know that, in his state-of-the-state address on Wednesday, Perdue named his price for supporting a statewide sales tax for transportation:
”Once I feel certain that we can deliver transportation value to Georgia citizens, I will support responsible measures to raise additional revenues.”
Hours later, House Transportation Chairman Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) said that “governance” was the critical issue in getting any measure passed.
“It’s certainly something that’s huge — very important — to the general scheme of things. Don’t disregard it. It’s very important,” the committee chairman told a roomful of lobbyists and business leaders. Smith said negotiations were ongoing among the governor, House Speaker Glenn Richardson, and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
This morning, House Majority Leader Jerry Keen of Brunswick appeared before a meeting of newspaper publishers sponsored by the Georgia Press Association.
Keen has had a bill in his pocket that would take the power to choose member of the state transportation board out of the hands of ordinary lawmakers and hand that authority to a triumvirate: the governor, the House speaker, and the lieutenant governor.
The governor would be given the authority to appoint the agency’s top executive — the state transportation commissioner. That duty now falls to the transportation board.
But Keen said he’s backed off his initiative after conversations with Perdue, who likes the idea and intends to incorporate in a sweeping overhaul of the state’s transportation system that will be presented to the Legislature this session.
Keen said Tommie Williams of Lyons, the new Senate president pro tem, supports the new approach for electing transportation board members. But we have not yet been able to get hold of Williams to confirm this.
Keen said that management of DOT has been a concern for some time. “And it was confirmed this past year with a lot of the activity coming out of DOT,” he said. “I’m not sure if we had $5 billion in cash — I have to be honest, I’m not sure we have the administration in place at the department of transportation to properly administer the money.”
The state currently has multiple transportation agencies — GRTA, CRTA, etc. “They were all created by past governors because they couldn’t get DOT to do what they wanted them to do. I’ve had two past governors both confirm that for me. You can never really get anything out of there,” Keen said.
“There is an ongoing, larger discussion now. That’s why I’ve backed off. I think what your seeing now is the governor knows that the Legislature has the appetite. So I have purposely yielded it,” Keen said. “I want to give the governor an opportunity to weigh in. And he’s doing that. And maybe we’ll see some type of omnibus bill.”
In order to pass, the measure faces two hurdles with rank-and-file lawmakers.
First, the Keen approach would require low-ranking state lawmakers to give up one of the few powers that they have. State transportation board members are currently elected by the lawmakers contained within each of the state’s 13 congressional districts.
But Keen says the current system lets the state transportation board operate with little accountability.
“We vote for these guys [and] that’s the last time I ever hear from them. I have never gotten a call from a person who represents me on the dot board asking me how I feel about a particular issue, about a particular project in my area. Never, not once,” Keen said. “The majority of legislators have the same relationship. One they get elected, they think they’re part of the executive branch. And they forget who sent them.”
The measure would also include a constitutional amendment that would allow voters to decide whether to levy a one-cent sales tax on themselves for transportation fixes. The House favors a statewide tax, which the governor has said nice things about. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle is currently supporting a regional approach that would allow groups of counties to band together.
Either way, the key phrase is tax increase.
But Keen said Republicans have done “significant” polling on the issue, and there is widespread support — throughout the state. “What’s interesting is the way it polls outside of metro Atlanta,” he said.
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Comments
By BPJ
January 15, 2009 12:11 PM | Link to this
We don’t have enough money for transportation needs in Georgia. One reason is that the motor fuel tax is calculated in cents per gallon, and hasn’t been changed since the early 1970s. There are two problems with that: (1) cars are becoming more fuel efficient, so less gas is bought per mile traveled; and (2) 7 cents per gallon doesn’t buy what it did 35 years ago, due to inflation. The motor fuel tax was never indexed to inflation, as it should have been.
Over the next decade or two, cars will use less gas, as more people buy hybrids, then electrics, etc. So gas taxes as a means of funding transportation will go the way of the dinosaurs (poetic justice, that). A sales tax seems the best approach.
By joe
January 15, 2009 12:26 PM | Link to this
You are wrong BPJ. There are two motor fuel taxes. You are talking about the excise tax. There is also an additional sales tax. It is 4% (3% goes to road projects) and changes based on the market rate.
By joe
January 15, 2009 12:28 PM | Link to this
You are wrong BPJ. There are two motor fuel taxes. You are talking about the excise tax. There is also an additional sales tax. It is 4% (3% goes to road projects) and changes based on the market rate.
By BPJ
January 15, 2009 12:41 PM | Link to this
Yes, I know there is a sales tax on gasoline, but the point is that we have relied for a large part of our transportation funding on a tax (called the motor fuel tax in the state consitution) which is figured in pennies per gallon, and has not been indexed to inflation. This tax produces less actual purchasing power every year.
The sales tax on gasoline fluctuates with the price of gas, which as we have seen over the past year can fluctuate widely. When gas prices were up, political leaders went for a temporary reprieve so that we didn’t get the extra revenue for transportation we would otherwise have received; now that gas prices are down, we’re getting less from the sales tax on gasoline as well.
The overall point still stands: the gas taxes (motor fuel tax & sales tax on gas) do not provide sufficient revenue for current needs, and they will provide even less in the future as gas becomes less important. Hence transportation funds will have to come from elsewhere, and my suggestion (and that of an increasing number of elected officials) is general sales taxes.
By HB
January 15, 2009 12:48 PM | Link to this
So they want cease having legislators elect members in groups according to the district they represent and have all Board members elected by the same three people, one of whom (potentially a frequent swing vote in a group of only 3) is not elected by statewide vote but rather by a single house district? Really? And that will increase accountability? How exactly? I imagine it will increase efficiency — that happens when power is given to only a few. Is this what conservatives mean by small government? Cut out other voices wherever possible?
By Aaron Burr V. Mexico
January 15, 2009 1:00 PM | Link to this
I was really looking for an excuse to call Republicans morons here….wait…I don’t need an excuse…
They’re morons.
But the fact of the matter is that the current system is so rotten is unbelievable. We need transparency and accountability. They’re misusing the money they already have. Let’s fix that before we give them more.
By Old Vet
January 15, 2009 1:39 PM | Link to this
I believe raising the gasoline tax equal to that in surrounding states would solve a lot of our transportation problems. When you travel outside the state you will notice there is very little difference in the pump price between our state and others. Possibly the oil companies are taking advantage of our low fuel taxes and charging more for gasoline in the state. In other words they are taking the gap between our low fuel tax and that of other state’s higher taxes and georgians are not benefitting. So long as our pump prices are competitive who complains and our legislators are not smart enough to notice.
By MC
January 15, 2009 5:21 PM | Link to this
“What’s interesting is the way it polls outside of metro Atlanta.”
This seems to imply to me that half of Georgia’s population was ignored.
By Read This Sonny, Casey & Glenn!
January 15, 2009 5:36 PM | Link to this
This is how to do transportation and growth the right way:
http://www.nrdc.org/smartGrowth/visions/FeaturedScenarios.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/smartGrowth/visions/Tempe-AZ.asp
By Sonny is a joke
January 15, 2009 6:22 PM | Link to this
The whole point for the GDOT Board it is chosen from 13 districts. So You get Democrats, and Republicans. So politics is not involvced in the decisions. What Sonny wants to do is TAKE THE POWER AWAY FROM THE PEOPLE and make it where 3 republicans pick the GDOT board and who are they going to pick All Republicans. This is VERY POLITICAL. And Sonnys track record of being in Spain or in China and his Fishing pond is more important than Ga jobs. You want him to pick the people? HisGDOT head he picked is already a joke. I for one as a tax payer do not want the governor to have all the power to decide about the transportation needs. Also Georgia spends 49th out of 50 states the lowest amount on transportation. Guess whose decision? “Sonny”. The GDOT head position also should not be picked by the governor it should be picked by the people. We pay her 175K a year “we” should at least get to decide who gets the job. I’m emailing my congressmen and senator, and Cagle is just as bad.
By Aaron Burr V. Mexico
January 15, 2009 8:19 PM | Link to this
Ah? Is that what the story is……more rural stupid folk trying to take money from Atlanta and give nothing back.
Typical stupid Republican think. And these are the so called ‘free market experts.’
More like the Market Fairy corrupt hicks who do state politics as usual. Hopefully we’ll get another fresh round of federal government intervention around here….we could use another generation of carpet baggers…..
By netdragon
January 18, 2009 12:38 AM | Link to this
Stuff like this will stall the commuter rail line. Get it in gear guys!
What about a gas tax to fund commuter rail in the meantime?