No gasoline tax increase next year, in fact, a general tax reduction in 1996.
That's what Gov. Mike Leavitt and GOP legislative leaders propose as part of a sweeping transportation, water and open space initiative that will be the heart of next week's Growth '95 summit.Much interest has been pegged on the transportation issue, and Leavitt and GOP leaders have come up with a "rolling 10-year plan" that will pump between $2.5 billion and $2.7 billion into expanding I-15 in Salt Lake County, build and repair other roads and "deal in some manner" with mass transit concerns, the governor said.
The GOP plan doesn't call for bonding but uses a pay-as-you-go program that will put at least $75 million a year - more if surpluses or state budgeting allows - into road building each year for the next decade.
Leavitt, GOP legislative leaders, Democratic legislative leaders and local government officials met Thursday morning to put forward several plans for the summit, which will be televised live by Utah stations next Wednesday evening and outlined in a special newspaper section on Sunday.
While the Democrats' and local officials' suggestions will be taken seriously, Leavitt and GOP leaders say the reality is that the governor's and Republicans' plan will, in some form, carry the day in the 1996 Legislature, which convenes in just seven weeks. Republicans hold steady majorities in both the Utah House and Senate.
The GOP plan calls for no increase in the 19-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax in fiscal 1996-97. But starting in fiscal 1997-98 all state motor-fuel taxes would automatically be indexed to inflation.
Leavitt guesses that the gas tax will go up 1 cent per gallon per year over the next nine years or so. The increases will be automatic, but lawmakers will have to act to authorize the increases if Utah's gas tax exceeds 110 percent of regional fuel tax averages.
The governor said he and GOP leaders have agreed there will be a general tax cut next year. But he won't say until his 1996-97 budget recommendation is released in two weeks which tax he wants cut and by how much.
However, part of the Republican transportation plan calls for local governments to get greater taxing authority to build and fix their own roads. And so part - but Leavitt says not all - of the state tax cut next year could be picked up by local governments. "It will be up to them" to raise those local taxes, said Leavitt, "and we expect (local taxes to go up) only if there is a real need."
Adding 1 cent per gallon to the gas tax will bring in an estimated $500 million over 10 years.
But Leavitt stressed that considering property and sales tax reductions over the past three years - along with his proposed tax cut in 1996 - "Utahns will see $3 in tax reduction for every $1 in gasoline tax increase" over the next decade.
The GOP water plan calls for the leasing of part of the state's unused Colorado River water. In years past, such a suggestion would amount to heresy as water in a dry state like Utah was worth its weight in gold. But Leavitt says downstream states are already using Utah's water for free. The state can't afford the huge cost of bringing the water to populated areas over the Wasatch Mountains and so might as well get some economic benefit from it. "We won't sell it, we'll lease it" with the idea of getting it back some day if Utahns can use the water, he said.
GOP leaders and the governor couldn't agree on open space action, so they just list four basic goals of preserving space and Utah's rural heritage.
Under the GOP transportation plan, about $1 billion in revenue growth will be diverted away from various state programs over the next 10 years and spent on roads and mass transit. Those programs' budgets won't decrease, just won't grow the extra $1 billion.
That will please some conservative GOP lawmakers who haven't liked how fast the state government has grown in the 1990s - faster than population and inflation.
But it's likely schoolteachers, state employees, human service advocates and others will complain - for they will want some of that $1 billion for their salaries and programs as well.
Another part of the GOP plan is to let local governments and/or private businesses pay for part of the road construction if they want their specific projects done early, or done at all.
For example, Micron executives want an interchange on I-15 in northern Utah County. "Micron is spending several billion dollars on their new plant. If their executives want to spend $25 million for a new interchange, we welcome it and our plan gives the Transportation Commission the power to deal with private firms to build such projects," said Leavitt.
Meanwhile, representatives of local governments - cities, towns and counties - offered their own proposals to deal with growth.
Most important, the working group determined, was that local governments need access to a broader range of revenue sources to deal with growth.
"The residents of local communities should have the right to decide how their local governments will raise money to address local problems, without seeking approval from the Legislature," the working group concluded.
The working group also supported a statewide increase in the gasoline tax, an increase in vehicle registration fees, increased fees for commercial trucks, the establishment of a local-option gasoline tax and a redistribution of the gasoline tax with a greater share going to local governments.
A Democratic working group, meanwhile, offered a number of general proposals that carefully skirted the question of tax increases. In the area of transportation, the position paper stated the priority should be to "maximize our current system by attempting to incorporate innovations in traffic flow developed by other cities."
Furthermore, "if the governor still deems a tax increase necessary to fund transportation construction, then the overall tax structure needs to be adjusted for fairness," Democrats said.
Unique to the three working groups, the Democrats also offered proposals to deal with education, crime and housing - all growth issues that are not part of the Growth Summit agenda established by Leavitt.