Mayors Searching for Transportation Funds

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traffic special report headerFranklin Mayor Ken Moore and Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson are facing more pressure in regards to the ever growing traffic issues, as discussed at Franklin Tomorrow’s Breakfast with the Mayors Nov 3rd.

The mayors have agreed with Gov. Bill Haslam’s push to increase state gas tax prices, in order to fund the ever increasing price of road construction throughout Tennessee. The state has not seen a boost in state gas tax since 1989.

“I guess we are a victim of our own success,” Anderson said. “We will get there, but it won’t be fast enough.”

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has used a “pay as you go” system for years, to keep the state’s overall debt as low as possible. This means the implementation of projects are not actually executed until the state is able to meet the financial obligations for each venture.

Moore said that although support for potentially raising taxes to fund transportation projects is growing among engaged members of the business and government community, the question is how to expand interest beyond those audiences.

Anderson said that right now, citizens will not want to pay for the higher taxes, as long as they are not educated on the purpose of the tax increase. “You have to identify and tell people what they are going to get on their money,” he said. “We are still talking in generalizations. I don’t think today if you had a referendum that it would pass.”

There has yet to be a decision set in stone on where the funding will come from to fix the transportation issues, but the city’s officials plan to continue searching for the right funding source for the citizens of Williamson County.

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