LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Lexington driver Colton Townsend said rising gas prices have forced him to make tough choices.
"It's like, 4 dollars a gallon. You can't really get back to work and forth, we're having to adjust our financial problems for home, bills in general. It's been real cumbersome here lately," Townsend said.
While prices have eased slightly — AAA reports Kentucky's average is $3.96 a gallon — the cost is still straining household budgets. Townsend said he has started riding his bike to cut down on fuel costs.
"I sometimes ride my bike here and there just to cut down on gas and save money for my kids," Townsend said.
Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order reducing the state gas tax by 10 cents per gallon, which went into effect May 11. He also froze a scheduled increase that was set to take effect July 1.
On Tuesday, the Interim Joint Committee on Transportation met in Frankfort to examine the impact of the reduction. Lawmakers heard from Chad LaRue, executive director of the Kentucky Association of Highway Contractors, who said drivers have saved about $5 a month, but at a cost to city and county roads.
"The savings are real. Once again, we don't diminish that. But if there's a tire damage, if there's a front-end alignment realized by someone who hits some of those things that have to be decided upon, those savings go away very quickly," LaRue said.
A report from the Transportation Cabinet found the 10-cent reduction took away about $26.8 million from Kentucky's Road Fund in a single month — including $11.8 million less for county and city roads and a direct impact of about $15 million to Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
LaRue warned the financial damage could grow.
"The Governor's suspension exacerbates that decline. As you can see on the blow up of this chart, if the 10 cent suspension stays in place through the end of June through the fiscal year, we could see upwards of a 50 million dollar decline in gas tax revenues," LaRue said.
Kentucky's gas tax is the largest funding mechanism for the state's Road Fund, generating close to $800 million a year.
Sen. Greg Elkins (R) - Winchester put the lost funding in stark terms.
"The result of this freeze, 26.8 million dollars, at 150,000 dollars a mile to pave asphalt. That's 180 miles. You could've paved from here to Pikeville with the money that was just given away," Elkins said.
Some lawmakers also argued the savings to Kentucky drivers are smaller than estimated, with much of the benefit going to out-of-state drivers passing through the state.
Elkins was sharply critical of the overall approach.
"We've inflicted much more pain than we've solved by doing this. It's irresponsible management of money to do what we've done," Elkins said.
Others, however, pointed to the real relief drivers are feeling at the pump.
"I'm sure all of us have had to fill our tanks. I was filling a tank over $100 a couple weeks ago. So it's not just the total amount but how quickly it happened," Rep. Matthew Lehman (D) - Newport said.
