Steele Urges Assembly Fund Transportation Bill

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Lt. Governor Encourages General Assembly to Pass
Governor Ehrlich's Transportation Funding Program

BLADENSBURG -- Stressing the importance of General Assembly support and passage of Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.'s Transportation Funding Program, Lt. Governor Michael S. Steele today visited the long-stalled project to build a CSX Railroad bridge over Route 450 in the Town of Bladensburg. Without additional funding, this project cannot move forward, leaving Bladensburg residents and nearly 53,000 commuters stuck in long backups as 25 to 30 trains daily stop traffic for more than 10 minutes each time. Originally projected to cost $53 million, the project requires an additional $10 million due to increased costs associated with the relocation of utilities and design changes required to assure rail, vehicle and pedestrian safety.

Governor Ehrlich's Transportation Funding Program, which is now before the General Assembly, will generate an additional $320 million dollars annually through user fees and other sources to improve Maryland's highway and transit network. Combined with a record capital program of the Maryland Transportation Authority, the Ehrlich Administration will invest $13 billion over the next six years to fund needed transportation projects around the State.

"This bottleneck is not just an inconvenience for commuters, but it is a safety issue for the many emergency vehicles that cannot respond to incidents quickly," said Lt. Governor Steele. "The new CSX railroad bridge is a perfect example of sorely-needed safety and congestion-relief projects across the State that are depending on the Governor's Transportation Funding Program. At the same time, this funding program will put another $70 million every year into the pockets of the local jurisdictions to spend on their top local priorities."

Of the $1.4 billion in additional revenue generated over the next six years, $423 million will go directly to local governments, like Prince George's County, to dedicate to their own transportation priorities.

In 2003, Governor Ehrlich appointed the Transportation Task Force to study how best to fund Maryland's transportation in the future. Chaired by former Maryland Transportation Secretary William Hellmann, the task force identified more than $17 billion in state transportation needs that are unfunded. The task force recommended Maryland's annual capital investment be increased by at least $300 million per year to begin to address that need.

Elements of Governor Ehrlich's transportation funding program that will produce the additional $320 million per year include:

$153 million - generated through an adjustment to the annual base vehicle registration fee. Light vehicles under 3,700 lbs. will pay an additional $23.50 per year. Heavier vehicles will pay an additional $36.00 per year;
$11 million - generated through the application of a $200 surcharge attached to each DUI/DWI conviction;
$40 million - generated through the application of a $50 surcharge attached to each conviction of a moving violation;
$20 million - generated by an increase in miscellaneous MVA fees, including an increase in the MVA's ability to recover more of its costs associated with the program that assists local jurisdictions in collecting parking fines and fines for other violations;
$32 million - generated by dedicating a full 100 percent of the rental car sales tax to the Transportation Trust Fund (beginning FY 2006);
$10 million - generated as the Transportation Trust Fund's share of the Delaware Holding Company Settlement;
$54 million - generated from higher than expected titling tax receipts, motor fuel tax receipts and additional bonding capacity projected for the six-year period.

In FY 2005, Governor Ehrlich has already budgeted $25 million to begin to replenish the amount transferred from the Transportation Trust Fund to the General Fund in FY 2004.

"The program I have developed to generate the transportation revenue we so desperately need is a fair one," Governor Ehrlich said. "It asks those who use our transportation system to help pay for improvements that will make their drive safer and faster. It also demands that those who break our traffic laws pay an additional financial penalty that benefits the safety of our driving public. The 661 traffic fatalities in Maryland in 2002 are proof that we can no longer tolerate loss of life, injury, and property damage on our roadways."

For more than a decade, key revenue sources that fuel the Transportation Trust Fund have not been adjusted to keep pace with inflation, reducing its buying power. Base vehicle registration fees have not been adjusted since 1987. If the fee had been adjusted for inflation from its inception in 1950, it should be $120 today (see attached chart). However, the planned adjustment leaves the fee at less than half that figure at $50.50 per year.