LANSING — Michigan lawmakers took the first legislative steps on road funding this week, hearing from infrastructure experts on where things stand currently.
“The goal is 10% or less in poor condition. There isn’t a single legislative district or any area of the state that has 90% good and fair condition currently,” said Lance Binoniemi, vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association.
Binoniemi told the House Transportation Committee that current road investments are below where they need to be, and could lead to greater spending without early repairs.
“If we don’t properly invest in capital preventative maintenance and rehabilitation when the road needs it, that road will last only 20 years.” he said. “We can extend the life of that road up to 50 years with properly investing now, early.”
Binoniemi says that every dollar invested in road funding can save up to $14 in reconstruction costs later.
Democratic Rep. Alabas Farhat introduced a set of bills last week that would put most of Gov. Whitmer’s recommendations into law, including a new digital advertising tax.
“These are ads you see on your phone when you’re going through social media. They don’t pay any taxes, don’t pay any revenues, and they’re a huge nuisance to everybody. They’re annoying,” he said. “We should tax those and use that money for things that actually matter, like the roads and like the public schools.”
Farhat’s proposal would also increase the corporate income tax, which would be directed to the state school aid fund.
“We’ve subsidized economic development very heavily in the state of Michigan — it’s okay for us as a state to call and say, you know what? We want our return on our investment,” he said.
Plans put forward by Whitmer and House Speaker Matt Hall each include about a billion dollars from redirecting all gas taxes toward road funding, along with half a billion in currently unspent state dollars.
“The speaker and the governor agree on principle, to $1.5 billion of funding for the roads,” he said. “There’s sure a difference there to make up, but they agree on half, 50% of the funding needs that we need. I’m optimistic that we can get to the full $3 billion target.”
Without new investment in road projects, experts say the state could lose around 7,000 jobs and would have to spend far more on repairs later down the line.