Transportation chairs outline compromise funding plans

House and Senate lawmakers negotiating a long-term transportation funding package outlined new offers Saturday that appeared to move each side significantly off their initial positions in an effort to jump start talks as the end of the legislative session draws near.

House transportation chair Rep. Tim Kelly (R-Red Wing) walked the conference committee on HF4 through a proposal that would dedicate around $300 million annually in General Fund revenues from auto part sales taxes, motor vehicle lease taxes and car rental taxes toward roads and bridges, phased in over multiple years.

Rep. Tim Kelly, left, and Sen. Scott Dibble reconvene the transportation conference committee Saturday afternoon to further discuss differing opinions to fund the state’s transportation needs. Photo by Andrew VonBank

The plan would also allow the Metropolitan Council to institute a quarter-cent local option sales tax for use on its metro bus services. Additionally, the five counties in the Counties Transit Improvement Board could levy their own quarter-cent local option sales tax to fund transit projects, with the catch that board would be required to cover all construction and operations costs on all future light rail projects.

“We would like to get the State of Minnesota out of the business of building and operating rail,” Kelly said.

It is the first House Republican proposal that includes new funding for metro area transit. Senate transportation chair Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Mpls) said Kelly’s outline is worth considering and called it “significant movement.”

WATCH Full video of meeting on YouTube

Dibble laid out a plan that would nix a proposed increase in the state’s gas tax, a key priority of Senate DFLers and a major point of contention in negotiations. In its place, would be a measure on the November ballot to constitutionally dedicate motor vehicle-related sales taxes from the General Fund toward road and bridge projects, hike license tab fees and allow the Metropolitan Council and metro counties to levy a quarter-cent sales tax for transit projects.

It is as close as the two sides have come in two sessions-worth of wrangling over a comprehensive transportation finance bill — but if a deal is to be struck, there’s little time left to do it.

“We didn’t want to stall out,” Kelly said. “We wanted to make sure that people understood that we have made progress.”