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State past due to raise gas tax to pay for roads

Lawmakers must shake off phobia of tax increases and do what's right

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Hilton Head Island's decision to pay for repairs on state-owned roads illustrates once again the dire situation we face in South Carolina when it comes to paying for our transportation system.

The town is spending $489,608 to resurface a small portion of South Forest Beach Drive and Cordillo Parkway, two state roads that the town estimates haven't been repaved in about 25 years.

Admittedly, these short stretches of road probably shouldn't be high on the state Department of Transportation's list, but nothing in 25 years?

Something is amiss with the system, and it probably starts with the miles of road that fall under the state's care.

According to the department, South Carolina has the fourth largest state-maintained highway system in the nation. Nationally, only 21 percent of all highways are under state control. In South Carolina, 63 percent of all highways are under state ownership and control, and nearly one-third of the state's primary and interstate highways are in poor or mediocre condition.

The department's executive director, Elizabeth Mabry, warned during budget hearings this week that state road construction funding could shrink from $800 million to $250 million annually during the next two years because of a decrease in fuel use combined with rising construction costs, according to the Associated Press.

She said the agency wants to cut some of the 42,000 miles of state-maintained roadways that "don't serve transportation purposes," although she didn't specify which roads.

More importantly, state lawmakers need to get over their aversion to raising taxes and move to hike the state's 16-cent gasoline tax, in place since 1987 and the fifth lowest in the country. The average state gas tax is 25.7 cents per gallon, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

That's why it was good to see that a push to raise South Carolina's gas tax by 10 cents a gallon is finding support among local lawmakers, who say an increase could help pay for new roads and repairs.

The suggestion to raise the gas tax was made by state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, during a recent meeting on Pawley's Island.

It comes at the same time that a new study says South Carolina needs about 1,900 new lane-miles -- costing about $4.9 billion -- to reduce congestion and prepare for growth expected by 2030.

The beauty -- and the fairness -- of the gas tax is that it hits the people using the roads, including the millions of people each year who travel to South Carolina. And we can't let high gas prices steer us away from this solution.

State Sen. Scott Richardson of Hilton Head has been pushing for a gas tax hike for several years with no success. Richardson says lawmakers either need to raise the gas tax or give the Transportation Department more money from the state's general fund to pay for new roads and maintain existing ones.

The Transportation Department says 81 percent of funding for South Carolina highways comes from the gas tax.

State Rep. Bill Herbkersman of Bluffton says he would support a gas tax hike if funding formulas for roads were changed to take into account the number of visitors who drive on local roads rather than focusing on an area's permanent population. He's right about that.

But state Rep. Richard Chalk of Hilton Head is being short-sighted when he says he'd rather pay for road improvements with some of the $171.5 million surplus the state ended the fiscal year with.

We need a permanent funding solution, not a one-time answer. That kind of financing only gets this state in trouble.

Chalk says he'd support a gas tax increase if needs can't be met from existing resources, but the gas tax is the first place lawmakers should look.