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Mayor Schneider Asks for Special Session to Consider Gas Tax Hike
Mayor Thomas R. Schneider of Florissant has requested that Gov. Jay Nixon call a special legislative session to increase the gas tax by 2 cents and avoid forfeiting federal matching highway funds. The mayor represents the St. Louis County Municipal League on the East-West Municipal League, North County Incorporated and the Engineers Club of St Louis, which have joined with many other Missouri organizations to support this increase.
In a letter May 21, he thanked Gov. Nixon for his support for the 2-cent fuel tax increase and the work and jobs it represents, but asked for the special session so the proposal will be addressed by the legislature.
His letter to the governor follows an April 21 news conference near the intersection of I-270 and New Florissant Road, the site of a crumbling overpass structure. The event was held to draw attention to the crisis and encourage the Missouri Legislature to support the fuel tax hike. The added revenue would ensure that Missouri will qualify for badly needed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal matching funds in 2017-18. Without these funds, thousands of jobs could be lost in the state.
Mayor Schneider stressed that although Missouri has the seventh-largest highway system in the nation, with 34,000 miles of roads and 10,400 bridges, it ranks 46th in revenue spent per mile. The annual construction budget for the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) has fallen from $1.3 billion in 2009 to a forecast of just $325 million in 2017–only enough to maintain Missouri’s approximately 8,000 miles of primary roads and bridges (Missouri’s 325 System) in their current condition. The state’s 26,000 miles of supplementary roads and bridges will only receive limited routine maintenance. The 2-cent fuel tax increase will allow Missouri to quality for the federal 4-to-1 investment in transportation in 2017-18.
