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Editorial: Plan to raid parks fund a poor fix for Idaho roads
Thirty-seven years ago, outdoor recreationists in the outdoor recreation mecca known as Idaho accepted a bargain with the state. Because their boats, snowmobiles and the like didn’t operate on state highways, they had been receiving a refund on their gas taxes. But under the 1972 plan they would forgo the refund if that money were diverted to pay for trails, boat launches and other off-road amenities.
It was a fair deal. It was responsible. Just like motorists whose gas taxes pay for construction and upkeep of the highways they wear out, the trail riders would be taxed to pay for the public facilities they use.
Now the state of Idaho plans to renege on that deal, effective July 1, 2010. That’s how desperate lawmakers were to get out of Boise last month without raising the state gas tax, which has gone unadjusted for 13 years.
To help pay for badly neglected transportation needs, the Legislature and Gov. Butch Otter agreed in the final days to take back the off-road gas taxes and use them for road building and repair, just as if it were boats and snowmobiles that were grinding up asphalt.
Throughout the torturous legislative session, the second-longest in state history, Otter pushed for lawmakers to deal straightforwardly with the transportation problem by doing the obvious thing, raising the state gas tax.
Again and again, legislators refused. At least half a dozen times they voted against an adjustment that would have compensated for 13 years of erosion in the revenue flow, thanks to improved vehicle efficiency that allows motorists to get by on fewer gallons of fuel.
Lawmakers said no to any gas tax increase, preferring to cobble together a package of mini-fixes including a blatant grab of the recreation fund that recreationists had been paying into faithfully since 1972.
This summer a special legislative task force will look at ways it might replace the revenue lost to the state Parks and Recreation Department.
But the current arrangement works well. It’s logical, it’s fair and it enjoys the support of the recreationists.
The task force should help the full Legislature understand that the answer isn’t to replace the diverted funds but to restore them. Then they should take a fresh look at the gas tax.