Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/113147
State & Province NEWS by Therese Dunphy, Editor-in-Chief tdunphy@randallreilly.com Connecticut According to a list of the Plainville's top 10 taxpayers of 2012, published in The Bristol Press, Tilcon Connecticut is the second highest taxpayer. According to the report, the subsidiary of Oldcastle Materials Group paid more than $23.5 million in taxes during 2012. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider announced a nearly $50 million investment in community transportation projects throughout the state, the St. Louis Business Journal reports. The funding comes through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP) and will support more than 400 jobs through 54 projects. The state DOT received 328 applications requesting ITEP federal funding of $327 million. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence presented a two-year state budget proposal that would divert some of the state's surplus to fund transportation. According to Indystar.com, the budget would retain a state policy that caps reserves — currently approximately $2 billion — at 12.5 percent. As it stands, the state splits funds that exceed that cap between taxpayer refunds and shoring up state pension funds. Pence proposes diverting an estimated $347 million during the next two years from pensions to transportation. The pension plans are 82-percent funded, and Pence believes that, as the Major Moves program funds run out, the state's transportation needs are greater. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and his transportation secretary pitched a plan to spend $13 billion during the next decade, according to NECN.com. The report notes that the dollars "would allow expansion of rail and bus service and close the funding gap that has forced the state to borrow funds for basic repairs and upkeep of roads and bridges." Patrick presented a long list of options to generate the additional billion dollars each year. Those options include a 30-cent gas tax, an income tax increase to 5.66 percent, and a sales tax increase to 7.75 percent. The additional funds would be used for a South Coast rail extension, a Green Line extension, a Springfield-to-Boston rail line, and the expansion of the Southern Station. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is seeking to expand transportation funding within the state through one of two options, Crain's Detroit Business reports. The first option would work within the existing road funding formula, which was created in 1951 and has been amended more than 100 times. It would implement a user-fee increase that includes higher registration fees, taxing gasoline at the wholesale level, and an optional increase in regional user fees. The second option would be to discard the 1951 plan in favor of increasing the state sales tax by 2 cents, with the revenue being dedicated to transportation funding. Iowa According to the Quad-City Times, state Director of Transportation Paul Trombino III told lawmakers that raising motor fuel taxes isn't the only way to fund the state's critical transportation needs, but noted that alternatives such as bonding, tolls, and sales taxes each have shortcomings. "There is a sense that the motor fuel tax won't work forever, but it will work for a period of time," he reportedly told the Senate Transportation Committee. He noted that the state's grid system of roads would make it easy for motorists to avoid toll roads. Trombino also explained that it would take a 1.1-percent increase in sales tax to raise the $440 million generated by the state fuel tax, but would trigger an additional increase of three-eighths of a cent dedicated to conservation spending due to a measure approved by voters to take effect the next time the state raised the sales tax. He suggested that rather than rely on one source of funding, "the more diversified the funding we have in transportation long-term is a significant benefit." AGGREGATES MANAGER March 2013 11