A legislative advisory panel in New Mexico has offered its two cents on how to come up with more money for the state’s struggling transportation system. One possibility offered is to create a new vehicle user fee.

If state lawmakers adopt all the recommendations of its study group during the 2008 regular session, the state could generate nearly $400 million annually. About 25 percent of that would come from the new vehicle user fee, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

The user fee would be based on axle weight.

Other recommendations offered by the study group include sending nearly $130 million of the state’s gross receipts tax to transportation. Another source of revenue would come from the motor vehicle excise tax. About $122 million that is generated from the tax on an annual basis would be routed to the road fund instead of the state’s general fund.

Improving compliance with the state’s weight-distance tax collection and a trip tax on commercial trucking could net an extra $19 million, the Journal reported.

Another recommendation is to give regional districts the authority to use local gross receipts tax funds for highway construction.

The proposed user fee won favor with many on the panel because it charges heavier vehicles more than other vehicles. Supporters say trucks cause more wear and tear on road surfaces.

Opponents say trucks already pay their fair share for using roads in the state.

The need to come up with more money for roads is drawing a lot of attention because New Mexico is half a billion dollars short of money for roads. Soaring costs for construction materials such as asphalt are blamed. To make matters worse, fewer federal dollars are available for states.

One option that did not gain the endorsement of the panel was a proposal to increase the state’s per-gallon tax rates on diesel and gas. Members declined to pursue that option with all of the state’s legislative seats on the 2008 fall ballot.

They did not decide what to do about putting tolls on state roadways.

To view other legislative activities of interest for New Mexico in 2007, click here.

– By Keith Goble, state legislative editor
keith_goble@landlinemag.com