By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A state panel created to find a new funding source for state highway system improvements debated its purpose Thursday and asked for proof to convince voters of the need.

“It doesn’t make a difference what plan we come up with if we don’t develop the resources to sell it to John Q. Public,” Bill Fletcher, a member of the Arkansas Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance, said during a meeting. “You’ve got to have something to present to the mass of the public that you can put on TV and be understood in 30 seconds.”

Rep. John Lowery, D-El Dorado, said he did not want to offend anyone but that he feared the committee could easily lose its focus.

“The Highway Commission already knows the need,” Lowery said, adding the committee “could in fact be reinventing the wheel.”

“The people of this state understand the problem,” Mark Lambreth of Batesville said. “The case has been made several times. The case is out there, folks, the people are demanding that roads be maintained.”

After the meeting, Rep. Mark Martin, R-Prairie Grove, said he was upset.

“The committee, today, I heard, go off on coming up with studies to convince the voters to vote for whatever funding they come up with, before they even establish a funding source. I’m mad … that they’re not worrying about doing what the Legislature asked them to do, but (they’re) going out on their own and create a publicity program.”

Sen. John Paul Capps, D-Searcy, the committee chairman, said after the meeting the panel understands why it was created and will come up with a recommendation that is fair.

“This is about money and where to get it. We’re not out here to tell them what roads to build, that’s the highway department’s deal,” Capps said. “What we’ve got to do is come up with a way to find the money to finance the highway department.”

He said it  would be difficult but not impossible to generate the money with a tax increase.

Members of the 19-member committee suggested a variety of funding options that need to be considered, including a severance tax on lignite, using taxes collected on Internet sales, toll roads, property taxes and a hike in the state fuel tax.

Much of the highway funding already comes from a tax on gasoline and diesel.

State Sen. Paul Miller, D-Melbourne, who owns a car dealership, said he doubted raising the gas tax is the way to generate additional funds because fuel taxes are unreliable as a steady source of funding.

“We’re going to be driving electric, not gasoline,” Miller said.

Last month, during the committee’s first meeting, state Highway Director Dan Flowers said the fuel tax has been a flat source of revenue and that the state is seeing a decline in that stream. Flowers also said Arkansas highways would need $200 million more annually just to maintain current conditions.

Following Thursday’s meeting, Martin and Donna Hutchinson, R-Bella Vista, both told a reporter that whatever the panel recommends will have difficulty being supported by the public until current highway funds are allocated evenly.

Both lawmakers said southern and eastern Arkansas receive most of the funds, while most of the traffic problems are in Northwest and Central Arkansas, the two most populous regions in the state.

“Regional needs need to be met,” Martin said.

During the meeting, Mike Wilson of Jacksonville suggested that researchers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock meet with the state Highway and Transportation Department to put together a report on how much it would cost the state to maintain its highway system if additional revenue was not found.

Flowers said his department would help UALR gather the information.