An increase in the gas tax is about as welcome to motorists as a speeding ticket, but the alternative of maintaining fewer roads and bridges and cutting local road programs is even less attractive. Now is the time for anyone with a good alternative for raising $56 million for the Highway Fund to come forward.

The shortfall in the Highway Fund exists partly because the fund was used during the last recession for more than it was intended, partly because deferred maintenance requires the state to play catch-up now and partly because the 19-cent gas tax, implemented in 1991, is losing value to inflation. When Maine faced a similar shortfall with the current Highway Fund budget, it patched it up by cutting some programs, getting a donation from the General Fund and passing two bond issues to repair highways and bridges.

That was a stopgap measure, the sort of thing a state does when it is caught by surprise. No such excuse exists this time. Maine’s Highway Fund simply does not produce enough revenue to keep roads, highways and bridges in adequate condition. The Highway Fund has bonded about all it should and, even during a time of low interest rates, the state should not want to rely heavily on General Fund bonds for road maintenance.

Nevertheless, the estimated $56 million shortfall in the fund’s $513 million total of expected allocations assumes the state will approve another $40 million in bonds. That is, without the bonds, the shortfall for the next biennium is actually $96 million. It gets worse. That money is used to leverage federal dollars. Without it, Maine could forgo as much as $200 million from Washington.

The option of giving up that money and simply doing less roadwork is untenable. Maine already posts about 2,000 miles of roads each spring, barring large trucks from using routes that should be open to them. And cuts would hit municipalities hard, forcing them, in turn, to depend on property taxes even more heavily.

Choices besides a gas-tax increase for funding are to, for instance, take the money from the General Fund, raise the money through increased registration fees or do a combination, including an increase in the diesel fuel tax. The registration and fuel taxes are the least progressive but most closely tied to road use. Of those two, the fuel tax is preferrable because it rises with the number of gallons of fuel consumed, which roughly translates into miles driven.

Maine’s gas tax is the lowest in New England and lower than the national average. A 5-cent increase would cover the Highway Fund shortfall and place the tax at approximately the national average. This course is even more compelling given the historic low prices for gasoline now and projected for the next several years.

No one favors increasing the gas tax or any other tax, for that matter, but the fact remains the Legislature needs to take action on filling the Highway Fund shortfall. A gas tax is the best suggestion going so far. Better ideas are welcome.