1988-007 Council Resolution - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 2 • 2. The motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) is a highway user tax and should be treated like other highway user taxes -- that is, dedicated to transportation. 3. Throughout the state people have been waiting many years for highway improvements and are becoming impatient with what they see as endless delays. 4. In rural areas weight restrictions on highways are a serious impediment to economic growth and add significantly to the costs borne by many segments of the economy, particularly those related to agriculture and manufacturing. 5. Public transit is a subject of vital importance to a sizeable segment of the population, and there is strong support among these people for expanded use of MVET funds for transit as well as for highways. 6. Local elected officials are particularly appreciative of the local bridge bonding program and hope it can be continued. 7. People generally believe that Minnesota's highways are in fundamentally good condition but can and must be improved in areas of capacity and safety. The Commission completed its work with an examination of the costs and benefits of credit financing for highways, then began its consideration of its final report. III. SCOPE OF THE COMMISSIONS WORK The overall charge given to the Transportation Finance Study Commission was an extremely broad one. If taken literally it would require several years of study, debate and public testimony to cover adequately. Given the limited amount of time available to the Commission it was necessary for us to concentrate primarily on the most pressing issues of transportation finance and to look specifically for recommendations to be made to the 1988 legislative session. This meant that we have been unable to formulate a plan for resolving transportation financing questions beyond the 1990 -91 biennium. This decision was not made easily. One of the major problems facing transportation today is the fact that many of its financing decisions have been made on a short-term basis which inhibits long -range planning and leads to public confusion and frustration. To the public the practice of scheduling highway projects and then cancelling them appears as bad management and bad planning when in fact it is the inevitable result of short-term decision making. Nonetheless we determined that our first responsibility in fulfilling the legislature's charge was to seek out the public's views on the kind of transportation system it wants and is willing to pay for. This concentration on learning what the public expects from the 1988 legislative session made it impracticable for us to conduct the kind of in -depth hearings necessary to formulating a long -term proposaL Even with this limitation we believe that the recommendations in this report will provide a foundation on which a more permanent solution can be constructed. IV. COMMISSION FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The Commission believes that the most immediate transportation needs facing the 1988 legislative session are: (1) the restoration of the Minnesota Department of Transportation's highway improvement program