LANSING – The Michigan Senate did not meet the March 7 deadline to pass legislation calling for a statewide vote in the May election that would increase or change the distribution of the sales tax to put more money toward funding the state’s roads, but there is still the potential for a special election or placing the issue on the ballot in another election.

Sen. Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw Township), chair of both the Senate Appropriations Committee and Senate Infrastructure Modernization Committee (which is handling the transportation issue), had set what he called an “ambitious” deadline to help resolve the $1.2 billion needed to fund the state’s ailing roads, but as time wound down, it was looking less and less feasible.

“I think you guys all realize that it was a very ambitious ask to get it done in that timeframe to start. And who owns that if there is a problem? Well, I own that,” Kahn told reporters after session. “That wasn’t the governor’s number, it wasn’t the speaker’s number or date, or the majority leader’s date. It was my real hope to get it done on that date.

“If I look internally in my soul and did I think I might not get it done? Yeah, but I’m not going to message that. My best chance to keep things moving forward is to say ‘hey, let’s try and reach a certain date,'” he said.

Asked if July 4, a date that has allegedly been suggested by Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe), would be an appropriate date at this point, Kahn said that would be another good date.

“I like that, July 4,” he said. “It would be patriotic to have our roads fixed.”

While the proposal will not show up on the May election ballot, that does not mean the state could not have a special election for it or do it at another time, Kahn said.

“We didn’t get the things done that would be on the May 6 or 7 ballot but we could do a special, for example,” he said. “A special election on roads is part and parcel of the notion that we’re going to use a special election to fund either roads or to fund schools and revenue sharing should we choose to divert money from the sales tax.”

Should the Legislature go the special election route, Kahn said, the state would have to pick up the cost, which he estimated to be at about $10 million.

“If we schedule the special, and the special was about $10 million and we’re in this for about $10 million now, then the amount that we had mentally said, ‘Alright we’ll buy into this,’ isn’t all that much different,” he said.

But the bigger issue at hand is that doing nothing is estimated to increase the cost of repairing roads about $100 million per year that no action is taken, Kahn said.

“In thinking about that, as an appropriations guy, I don’t like that. I don’t want to have to spend $100 million I don’t have to spend, of course,” he said. “I don’t like it, but at the end of the day, if we can get it done, alright. So if it goes later, I lose a construction season, I’m not happy with that but the main prize is getting it done.”

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