/ Modified may 1, 2015 8:26 p.m.

METRO WEEK: How Will We Pay For Tomorrow's Road Work?

Long-term transportation planning requires attention to funding puzzle.

This week Metro Week delves into the issue of long-term transportation planning and funding:

The problem: We've got potholes now, and not enough money to fix them all today. That's created a backlog, and a funding issue for future needs, because no good road stays good forever.

The solution: Basically, local governments just need more money for more road work.

The details: Sen. Steve Farley (D-Tucson) said Arizona needs to raise the gasoline tax and index it to inflation. He recommended his fellow state lawmakers consider the Utah model of applying the tax based on the gasoline price (a sales tax) rather than a tax on the volume of fuel purchased.

“If you can do that in a very red state like Utah, there’s no reason you can’t be doing it here,” he said.

Farley also suggested any fuel taxes be universal, no matter what kind of fuel a vehicle uses, and diversifying transportation taxes far beyond fuel. A tax on how many miles a person travels a year, or a tax based on the weight of a vehicle, would reflect the wear-and-tear on the roads, Farley said.

Last week the Arizona Town Hall held a days-long forum on the question of future road funding.

“The town hall came up with the consensus that we really need to develop a blue ribbon commission you could say, of experts on just how to do this," said Hal Ashton, chairman of The Ashton Company, a local road work contractor.

He said many people acknowledge the political necessity of paying for roads, but convincing lawmakers to raise taxes is difficult.

“If you say no new taxes, then if you need more money where does it come from?”

Farley said he thinks his fellow state lawmakers can be convinced that taxes are not always a bad thing, as long as voter support is evident.

“There shouldn’t be this fear of finding a sustainable funding source from our legislators because voters will back you up if you’re collecting something for a specific purpose that they see as valuable, and I think everybody sees transportation as valuable to our economy and to our everyday lives.”

Read more, or listen to an audio version of this story from NPR 89.1.

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