Gov Says Future Legislatures Won’t Have to Worry About Road Funding

Governor Rick Snyder believes it will be a while before lawmakers have to address road funding in the state again.

He tells the Michigan Radio Network a part of the funding plan approved by the House and Senate Tuesday calls for the gas tax to go up as inflation does.

This would kick in after the funding plan hits the $1.2 billion mark, which isn’t until 2021.

Snyder says if the road funding plan the legislature passed in 1997 had that built in, lawmakers may not have needed to work for years to approve a new funding plan.

The plan the Michigan House and Senate green-lighted includes a gas tax increase and diesel tax increase, a bump in vehicle registration fees of about $20 a year and pulling $600 million dollars out of the General Fund.

There’s some tax relief built in too, like expanding the Homestead Property Tax Credit and an income tax rollback tied to growth in state revenue.