The State Transportation Department has been warning, for some time, that Missouri’s transportation funding “falls off a cliff” in Fiscal Year 2010 when the amount of federal transportation dollars for the state is slashed.
Senator John Loudon (R-Chesterfield) is proposing a plan to deal with that future federal funding shortfall by improving roads and bridges without raising taxes. Under the Loudon proposal, approval of a constitutional amendment by voters would lead to the dedication – to transportation – of 10 percent of the growth in the state’s general revenue fund each year from the base year of 2008.
Loudon’s estimates are that by FY 2010 the proposal would raise $36-million. That figure would jump to $157-million by FY 2013. At its maturity in FY 2030, the plan would produce $1.3-billion. Loudon says the investment in Missouri’s infrastructure would create jobs, raise revenues, and save lives. He adds new roads would encourage more companies to locate and expand in Missouri, increasing the tax-paying workforce, and, by extension, increase state revenues.
