State Rep. Dave Prestin on Wednesday voted in favor of a commonsense plan to fix the roads without raising taxes. The legislation – House Bills 4180 through 4187 and House Bill 4230 – would annually dedicate $3.1 billion to roads, specifically $2.5 billion to local roads. The legislative package passed the House with bipartisan support.

“Local roads in the U.P. have been neglected for far too long,” said Prestin, R-Cedar River. “I know our local road commissioners face an ever-growing list of problems and funding sources that continue to dwindle. The plan we passed today will be an important first step to secure the resources our communities need to finally break ground on some long-overdue construction projects.”

The roads plan would annually rededicate $2.2 billion from the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) to roads, shifting $220 million to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and $1.98 billion to local roads. More specifically, $275 million is set aside for neighborhood streets like subdivisions and $100 million for decrepit bridges in local communities. The plan would also reallocate hundreds of millions of dollars from expiring or inefficient spending programs.

The roads plan also ensures Michigan’s largest corporations are paying their fair share in taxes, securing around $500 million annually. Additionally, the bills remove the sales tax on fuel and replace it with a fair, fixed motor fuel tax, securing nearly another $1 billion for roads without raising taxes. The legislation explicitly earmarks $755 million to the School Aid Fund to completely replace any losses.

“Politicians and career bureaucrats in Lansing know a roads plan can get done without raising taxes or taking funding away from schools,” said Prestin, who serves on the House Transportation Committee. “But any successful plan that doesn’t raise taxes will come at the expense of excessive government spending and never-ending support of the administrative state. We have to make government more efficient.”

The bills would also create the Neighborhood Roads Fund, which would distribute money to local units of government based on their number of various road miles, not on the ability to generate matching funds.

“The new local roads fund will be a huge win for townships and other municipalities in the U.P.,” Prestin said. “It’s a great addition to the roads package because it puts money for our roads right where our locals need it: in our counties, in our townships; and into the roads that need the most attention.”

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