Gas tax allocation flawed, panel says ATV programs may not get fair share

Snowmobile, ATV and motorboat programs should get more gas tax revenue, according to a commission appointed two years ago by the Legislature.

The Commission to Study Equity in the Distribution of Gas Tax Revenues Attributable to Snowmobiles, All-terrain Vehicles and Watercraft voted 10-2 last month to seek the additional funding. But the feeling among members is that it will be a hard sell to get the Legislature to go along.

Programs that benefit snowmobile, ATV and boat users now get $3 million, or about 2 percent of state gas tax revenues. They include trail grooming and boat launch construction. About $148 million is raised annually from the 22-cents-a-gallon tax.

Rep. Joe Clark, D-Millinocket, the House chair of the commission, said the last time additional money was earmarked from the gas tax for snowmobiles was in 1987. Since then the winter sport has grown dramatically. Yet, Clark said, getting additional funding to help snowmobile clubs maintain Maine’s 12,200 miles of trails will be tough.

“[The Department of Transportation] will scream about it,” Clark said. “They are losing money out of the highway budget. But these three user groups, especially snowmobiling, need help.”

A commission bill, which does not have an LD number yet, proposes increasing the share of gas tax funds that go to such programs by $1.1 million a year to about $4 million. A UMaine study determined last year that $1.1 million is the difference between what those programs get now from the tax and the amount paid by users in gas taxes.

The bill also proposes to continue to study the amount of gasoline purchased by recreational users to assure these activities receive adequate state funding.

Scott Ramsay of the Department of Conservation’s Off-Road Vehicle Division said use of snowmobiles and ATVs is increasing. He said 70,800 snowmobiles were registered in 1996, and 96,600 last year. There were 27,300 ATVs registered five years ago and 45,000 last year, he said.

Because of the growth, the commission reported, snowmobiles and ATVs need more state funding to help pay for the upkeep of trails and landowner relation programs that help in establishing trails.

“Our ATV program is smaller, but it’s in much more need of new funding. Use is dramatically increasing,” Ramsay said. “In some situations, ATVs actually harm landowner relations, and landowners are closing their land to hunting and fishing because of this.”

Herb Hartman, deputy director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands, said the gas tax money for motorboats goes mostly to building boat launches. Some of it is used to provide navigational aids, such as buoys, he said, but the bulk of it has helped create thousands of public boat launches in Maine.

He said that with land becoming more expensive, the number of sites DOC can purchase is growing smaller.

“We predict in a year or so we will have to cut back the amount we are spending,” he said.

However, Bruce Van Note, a DOT official who served on the commission, voted against the recommendation. He said the gas tax money that goes to his department makes up two-thirds of its highway fund, which helps maintain roads. The rest is from registration and title fees, he said.

Even with those revenues, Van Note said, DOT faces a projected budget shortfall of $76 million for the next biennium.

“There is no question that part of my role on the commission was to guard Transportation’s food dish,” Van Note said, “because we’re starving.”

Van Note said he agreed with the commission’s minority report that said if the gas tax is increased to keep pace with inflation, some of the new revenue should go to recreational programs. A bill in this session, LD 2020, would increase the gas tax by the cost of inflation.

At the same time, Van Note questioned why such programs should get a share of the gas tax.

“I burn more gasoline in my lawn mower than in my motorboat, but I’m not asking for that money,” he said. “Two years were spent on the cost of that study. Even after all that, what we found is they need $4 million and not $3 million. It’s not horrendously bad.”

Sen. Christine Savage, R-Knox, who also voted against the commission’s recommendations, said the bill is unreasonable.

Good roads are important for hauling snowmobiles, ATVs and boats around, said Savage, the chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation. “If we keep dipping into the Highway Fund for different purposes, where are we going to get the funding?”

Deirdre Fleming covers outdoor sports and recreation for the NEWS. She can be reached at 990-8250 or at dfleming@bangordailynews.net.