TRENTON, N.J. (PIX11) -- New Jersey lawmakers have approved a bill to increase the State's gas tax to improve roads.
The bill passed in the Senate and Assembly in Trenton on Monday would renew the Transportation Trust Fund or TTF.
"I can tell you right now that every cent generated through the TTF gets put back into the roadways," said Democratic Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese, the bill's sponsor, who said it is needed to improve transportation infrastructure.
To achieve that, it would recalculate the gas tax, which would result in an increase of about 2 cents at the pump every year for five years.
"Increasing the gas tax by 10 cents over five years, in my opinion, is not the way to go," said Republican Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco, who said Republicans have a plan to fund the TTF for eight years without increasing the gas tax.
He said Republicans didn't get much chance to give their input.
"If they would have given us a seat at the table and speak about this there's a whole bunch of ways we could have crafted something that wouldn't have had a major impact on our residents," said Bucco.
Drivers we spoke with last week had mixed opinions, though most did not wish to see an increase to the gas tax, which currently stands at a little more than 42 cents.
Supporters said better roads will lead to better times ahead.
"One dollar of investment gets three dollars of economic output," said Calabrese, "because the money gets put back into the roadways for capital improvements. We're talking about big transit projects."
"Doing nothing and allowing our roads to deteriorate, our bridges to fall down, potentially, the opportunity cost and the life cost to that far exceeds anything we're doing today," said New Jersey Democratic Senate Majority Whip Troy Singleton.
English (US) ·