With fuel costs closer to $3 per gallon than $2 per gallon, a panel of state lawmakers in Wyoming has decided this is not the best time to raise the state’s fuel tax.

The Joint Revenue Committee killed a bid to increase the state’s tax on gasoline and diesel fuel tax by 5 cents per gallon to 19 cents. The revenue would have gone for a multilane highway system.

Already high fuel costs and the effects of Hurricane Katrina on fuel production are more than taxpayers can bear, Rep. Tom Walsh, R-Casper, told The Casper Star-Tribune.

Rep. Dave Edwards, R-Douglas, told the panel he is in favor of a fuel tax increase and suggested they amend the proposal to include a 1- or 2-cent-per-gallon fuel tax increase.

Instead, lawmakers opted to ask for the $75 million they want to be taken out of the General Fund’s budget reserve account. The funds would go for building and improving multilane highways and purchasing rights-of-way, Walsh said.

The panel’s decision to not pursue higher fuel taxes was welcome news to Gov. Dave Freudenthal.

The governor had said earlier he could not endorse a hike in Wyoming ’s per gallon fuel tax without more public support.

Freudenthal signed legislation early this year authorizing a one-time infusion of $7 million for engineering and constructing multilane highway projects. The money cannot be used for the interstate highway system.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation has now estimated the cost of widening highways in the state to be $1.4 billion, much higher than earlier estimates, The Associated Press reported. The cost is no longer $1 million per mile but $3 million per mile.