Letter: Gas tax alone won’t fix it

The S.C. House of Representatives voted against a gas tax bill amendment placing Department of Transportation management under a cabinet-level secretary reporting to the governor and is now poised to pass the entire gas tax bill. In so doing, it is ignoring the root causes of poor road maintenance.

Road funding revenues have increased from $1.54 billion in 2012 to more than $2.2 billion in 2016. Road maintenance has not improved and remains an issue. This indicates road funds have not been properly managed or allocated due to the lack of direct and clear accountability and responsibility. This issue can be partially addressed by moving the control of all state highway/road funds to a cabinet-level DOT under a secretary appointed by and reporting directly to the governor.

Also, a detailed accounting of all road funds through numerous state entities has not been done. It appears funds are being diverted into the General Fund and potentially used for non-road purposes. And much of the dedicated road funds go to new roads versus repair and maintenance.

If the voters and our legislators do not know in detail how all the road funds are being spent, how can the lack of funds be considered a reason for poor maintenance?

It is tantamount to throwing good money after bad to pass a gas tax without a detailed, forensic, independent audit of road revenues and expenditures and without making the governor directly responsible for all of the state roads.

This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Letter: Gas tax alone won’t fix it."