DOT commissioner from Myrtle Beach area urges gas tax increase

S.C. Department of Transportation Commission Vice Chairman Mike Wooten of Murrells Inlet used figures and statistics to make the case for a gas tax increase when he spoke Monday to the Florence Rotary Club.

Wooten, who represents the 7th Congressional District that stretches across Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Marion and Marlboro counties, strongly refuted any notion of fiscal mismanagement at the state Department of Transportation.

The gist of Wooten’s presentation was to underscore an annual funding shortfall of $400 million needed to repair the state’s crumbling infrastructure.

South Carolina’s gas excise tax of 16.75 cents per gallon is among the lowest in the nation, he noted, and was last raised in 1987.

Comparing the Palmetto State often to North Carolina and using the metaphor of leaving monochromatic Kansas while traveling to multi-hued Oz, Wooten said the S.C. transportation department is responsible for 41,000 miles of highways with a $1.6 billion budget. The Tarheel State, he said, has a $5.2 billion budget for its department of transportation.

“And they’ve got less road miles than we do,” he said.

However, the website for North Carolina’s DOT shows a $4.4 billion budget with responsibility for 80,000 miles of highway and 13,638 bridges. South Carolina owns and maintains 8,300 bridges.

Funding for the SCDOT is the “question of the day, of the year, actually of the decade,” he said, in explaining how the gas tax only makes up 27 percent of the budget, which surprises many people.

“Our neighbor to the north is 22 cents more a gallon than we are,” he said.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, however, North Carolina’s state excise tax, as of Oct. 1, is 36.25 cents a gallon, for a difference of 19.5 cents per gallon.

Nationwide, 30.29 cents per gallon is the average amount of state tax on gasoline, according to the API.

Federal reimbursements total $902 million aimed toward South Carolina’s transportation budget. General funds make up $79 million, the state ports authority kicks in $25 million, non-federal aid totals $106 million, and fees, fines, tolls, permits and participation agreements bring in another $52 million.

“I’m not going to go through all these fees and tolls, because nobody’s really interested anyway,” he said, to laughter.

Approximately four years ago, former state transportation secretary Bob St. Onge – a retired two-star Army general – commissioned a study that showed the need for $1.47 billion each year in additional funding over the next 29 years, he said, to improve all of the mass transit systems in the state.

“Now, a lot of people threw a lot of negativity at that report,” Wooten said. “Nobody’s been able to refute it.”

St. Onge resigned in January 2014 following an arrest for driving under the influence. His successor, Janet Oakley, resigned her $156,000-a-year post after about a year.

Christy Hall, who had been acting secretary since July, was recently appointed head of the 5,000-employee agency by Gov. Nikki Haley.

Roughly half of the state’s roads are graded poor, Wooten said. South Carolina shines in the interstate area, as the federal highway administration “forces us to match the funds they spend or they cut back on funding.”

Sixty-nine percent of the interstate system is graded as good condition, he said, and he stressed the importance of spending early on maintenance.

“The longer you wait to preserve the road, then you get into rehab, and then you get into total reconstruction,” he said. “And your cost goes straight up from there.”

Wooten touted the importance of the Port of Charleston and mentioned how one of the favorite things St. Onge used to say was how the port is the economic engine that drives the state. South Carolina is stronger on the water side but not keeping pace on the “land side,” with the most glaring example being Interstate 26, Wooten said.

“If there’s anybody in here who’s an environmentalist, you can close your ears – I’m probably going to hurt your feelings,” he said.

Forty one people in cars died over a three-year span after hitting trees in the median of I-26 between Orangeburg and Charleston, he said, so the DOT cut down the trees and installed cable barriers.

The barriers tear up cars but save lives, he said, and safety is the department’s priority. Cutting all of those trees brought about a flood of calls from upset and angry residents.

“You would’ve thought we were the hunter in ‘Bambi’ that killed Bambi’s mom,” he said.

A woman who called quickly hung up after he told her that he lives in South Carolina and considers trees a crop.

Wooten also touched on the DOT’s performance during the 1,000-year flood. Ten days ago, 404 roads and bridges in the state were closed. As of Monday, that number was 129, he said.

“That’s your DOT at work,” he said. “We had people working around the clock for two weeks. Our staff didn’t sleep. If they did, they slept in their office.”

Wooten noted a lack of water and sewer at the department’s headquarters.

“I have never been prouder of a group of people in my entire career,” Wooten said.

After the meeting, Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said there’s no simple or short answer to fixing the roads.

Wooten suggested a need for a gas-tax increase in the range of 20 cents per gallon, while Leatherman, the Senate’s president pro tempore, said simply “whatever’s needed.”

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 9:50 PM with the headline "DOT commissioner from Myrtle Beach area urges gas tax increase."