Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors was expected to approve a letter today to send to Senator Ted Gaines (R-District 10) asking that he support reenactment of a “gas tax swap” that could have the affect of reducing road operations and maintenance fund in Amador County by millions of dollars.

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse, in a draft letter to be considered today said supervisors are “extremely concerned with the likely ramifications if the Legislature does not take steps to reenact the gas tax swap in light of the recently passed Proposition 22 and Proposition 26,” in the November 2010 general election.

Regional Council of Rural Counties Legislative Advocate Paul A. Smith summarized the resulting issue in a Jan. 11 letter to the RCRC board of directors, saying the state Legislature on a “majority vote” passed a “very complex scheme known as the Gas Tax Swap.” Statewide voters last November repealed the changes in a move that would “greatly impact the current configuration of transportation funding” in California.

Proposition 22 limits the use of “Highway User Tax Account” funds for “bond debt and General Fund relief as required in the Swap.” Smith said: “More importantly, Proposition 26 invalidates the majority vote replacement taxes approved in the Swap. Without legislative reenactment of the Swap, these replacement taxes will be invalidated in November 2011.” Without reenacting the Gas Tax Swap, it would leave California “transportation funding severely reduced by approximately $2.5 billion annually.”

Smith said reenactment of the Swap requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, “which means that Republicans will need to support the reenactment even though there was not one single Republican vote for the Swap last year.”

Smith requested that each “RCRC member county endorse the legislation which reenacts the Gas Tax Swap,” and member Supervisor Boards identify at-risk projects and personnel. Plasse in the draft letter said the Amador County Roads & Public Works Department would face a 15 percent budget reduction of $1 million, and Amador Regional Transit System would have to cut $180,000, without reenactment of the Gas Tax Swap. Amador County Transportation Commission Executive Director Charles Field in a Jan. 25 memo said it “could also impact gas tax revenues to the cities.”

ACTC could lose $1.76 million a year in State Transportation Improvement Program funding, Field said, and it could lose state money spent in Amador County by Caltrans on maintenance and operations. Statewide, that would be about $200 million, if there was a “failure to reestablish the Gas Tax Swap.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.