Orr: Reduce N.C. transportation board, consider consumption tax
By GARY D. ROBERTSON
The Associated Press
2/5/2008
RALEIGH, N.C. — Reducing the state Board of Transportation’s size and influence would help take politics out of road building decisions in North Carolina, enabling billions of dollars to be better allocated to regions that need highway improvements most, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Orr said Monday.
“A restructuring of how (the Department of Transportation) works is imperative. We cannot continue to invest billions of dollars in an inefficient and ineffective way,” Orr said after announcing a transportation reform plan.
Orr said it’s clear the state will need more revenues to meet an estimated $65 billion shortfall in transportation funding during the next 20 years. The state generates about $3 billion in transportation revenues annually, but without changes, those revenues are expected to remain flat through 2013.
Orr suggested replacing the state’s gasoline tax with a consumption tax based on how many miles a motorist drives. But he also said cost savings need to be found within the department to reduce the shortfall through better agency management, buying right-of-way land early and meeting environmental rules on the front end of projects.
“Obviously, long term we are going to need more revenue,” said Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice. “It can come in a variety of different ways.”
If elected governor in November, Orr said he would work to remove the Board of Transportation from making the final decisions on what roads get built, shifting that power to the governor or the transportation secretary.
Current board members have been singled out recently for fundraising activities for outgoing Gov. Mike Easley and other statewide candidates, and for their political power in completing projects in the areas they represent.
The board should become more of an oversight panel that sets DOT performance goals and advocates for local projects, he said. Orr also wants the number of transportation board members reduced from 19 to 14, equal to the number of regional divisions in the department.
Orr said Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett, Easley’s secretary since 2001, should be removed from his job for poor management. Republicans would do a better job running the department, he said.
“If you restructure DOT and put in a new aggressive leadership team that is dedicated to real change ... then we can really start seeing a difference in our transportation investment,” Orr said.
Orr also wants the North Carolina Turnpike Authority collapsed into the transportation department to reduce costs and redundancy, and he called transportation bonds a “Band-Aid” solution to highway improvements unless the state is willing to issue bonds every year.
Orr has agreed with other GOP candidates — Salisbury attorney Bill Graham, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and state Sen. Fred Smith — to eliminate the $172 million annual transfer from a dedicated highway fund to the general operating fund.
Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, also has said she would phase out the annual transfer and use some of the money for bonds. State Treasurer Richard Moore, Perdue’s leading primary opponent, has said he would bar transportation board members from donating to candidates if elected.
