A recent report from the County Road Association details the cost of maintaining Michigan’s county roads.
According to the report, an additional $2.4 billion is needed to maintain and repair the roads. That’s up 30%, about $500 million, from the last report two years ago.
Officials say the increase in funding needs comes from inflation and the number of electric and high-efficiency cars on the roads.
“They’re purchasing a much lesser amount of fuel than a normal combustible engine,” Ed Noyola, the chief deputy legislative director of the County Road Association. “There is no fuel tax collected.”
Fuel taxes pay for county road maintenance and repair. Federal road aid maintains state highways and bridges.
While there are no immediate solutions, Noyola said there are short-term and long-term options.
“We definitely need an increase in revenue, whether that’s from the fuel tax or [car] registration fees,” Noyola said. “But I think that’s a short-term solution.”
“A long-term solution is to look at vehicle miles traveled, or VMT,” Noyola said.
He said VMT tracks how many miles a car goes. Those miles are then taxed. “That is probably the most fair way for everybody to pay for the privilege of using our infrastructure. Everybody pays the same rate per mile.”
So if a car gets a lower rate of miles per gallon, the driver is paying the same amount in taxes compared to a high-efficiency vehicle.
“[It] could change how you’re really going to pay in order to make this fair for everyone,” Noyola said.
He said he didn’t have a timeline for piloting a VMT program. “It’s up to the legislature and the governor to decide”.
