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When the Great Recession hit and revenues tanked, state leaders raided every pot of money they could find, including the fund that divides 鈥渉ighway user revenues鈥� between the State Highway Administration and local governments.
Given Maryland鈥檚 record surplus, county and municipal officials are insisting that Maryland restore the 70-30 split that existed for 40 years before the downturn. Despite a full-throated campaign, however, their efforts have yet to pay off.
聽intended to restore the old formula attracted support from聽聽of rural, suburban and urban leaders 鈥� and it is a top priority for the Maryland Association of Counties.
As originally drafted, the Maryland Department of Transportation聽聽of every dollar that enters the fund, which consists mostly gas tax revenues, vehicle registration fees, car rentals, and the state corporate income tax. Baltimore City would get 12%, the counties would split 15%, and municipalities would divvy up 3%.
The measure passed the House unanimously last week, but not before being amended to dramatically reduce the localities鈥� share of the pie. Under the revisions, local governments would see just modest increases in the split that has been in use for the last dozen years, a division in which MDOT keeps 90% of highway-user revenues, Baltimore gets 8%, and the other localities have to make do with less than 2%.
The Maryland Association of Counties and many members of the House are pinning their hopes on the Senate.
鈥淲here we sit today, we鈥檙e awfully far behind of full funding, and it鈥檚 been a decade of a starvation diet for our local roads and bridges,鈥� said MACo executive director Michael Sanderson. 鈥淲e definitely feel like this year is the best opportunity we鈥檝e seen to right that ship.鈥�
Budget analysts聽聽of the state鈥檚 revenue picture earlier this month. Maryland is on track for a two-year surplus of $7.5 billion.
Del. Carl Anderton Jr. (R-Lower Shore), the sponsor of the MACo-backed bill, was philosophical about the changes that occurred in committee, saying, 鈥渢hose things happen in negotiation.鈥�
鈥淲e have a lot of unfinished business when it comes to the counties and we鈥檙e hopeful that when the bill makes it over to the Senate, we鈥檒l see what they come up with,鈥� he added.
Anderton鈥檚 bill is the rare Republican measure to make it out of the House. It attracted dozens of sponsors from across the political spectrum. 鈥淭his is something that effects everybody,鈥� the former mayor of Delmar said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a non-partisan issue. It鈥檚 do you want safe, clean streets or not.鈥�
The Senate version of Anderton鈥檚 bill聽聽(D-Baltimore) and has attracted more than two dozen co-sponsors from both parties. It has yet to be voted upon.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to do a highway user bill,鈥� said Budget & Taxation Committee chair Guy Guzzone (D-Howard). 鈥淲e鈥檙e clearly going to make things better, but to what degree (is unknown). We鈥檙e still in a grand negotiation with the governor and the House on a number of tax issues.鈥�
