Gas tax hike is coming; locals voted against it

Montana’s 65th Legislative session is came to a close last week and your gas and diesel taxes are going up.

Both parties said advancing an infrastructure plan was a top priority.

To that end, one of the most significant infrastructure bills of the session, Kalispell Republican Frank Garner’s House Bill 473, passed both houses.

The bill initially increased the gas tax by 8 cents a gallon, but the amount was lowered to 4.5 cents by the Senate. The gas tax rises beginning July 1. It will eventually raise to 6 cents by 2023. The diesel tax would go up 1.5 cents a gallon July 1 and go up to 2 cents in 2023.

House District 3 Rep. Zac Perry, D-Martin City, voted against the bill as did Senate District 2 Rep. Dee Brown, R-Hungry Horse.

The bill is expected to raise $37 million in new highway construction funds, with $21.3 million for state projects and an additional $15.8 million for local ones in fiscal 2018. Those totals would grow as the taxes rise.

Montana’s current gas tax is 27 cents per gallon, while the diesel fuel tax is 27.75 cents. Montana hasn’t raised either tax since 1993.

Another major bill, House Bill 5, introduced by Rep. Jim Keane, D-Butte, allocates funding for a variety of infrastructure projects, including a veterans’ home in Butte and university system projects like the renovation of Montana State University’s Romney Hall.

The bill, with the Senate’s amendments, passed the House 88-11 last week and goes onto Gov. Steve Bullock for final approval.

House Bill 2, the state budget, also passed by a 58-41 margin. Both Brown and Perry voted against it as well.

The state budget is $10.3 billion for 2018 and 2019, and will leave an estimated $200 million in reserve.

Most state agencies saw their budgets trimmed, and they will see some vacant positions go unfilled for the next two years to make up for the revenue shortfall. The Legislature also created a budget stabilization reserve fund, with rules meant to allow the governor to respond more quickly to future revenue drops.

This story was corrected to note that Dee Brown also voted against the budget.