As the nation tentatively continues forward with recovery—whether it be a full turnaround or the first part of an unwanted "W" trend—the construction sector continues to try and rid itself of a laundry list of laments. Building permits ticked upward in August at a seasonally adjusted rate of 579,000, a 2.7% increase over July, but were still more than 32% below the same period in 2008. Housing starts also increased slightly in August over July by 1.5%, but completions were again down 5.5% and both figures were more than 25% below the numbers seen at this time last year.
From the federal government's perspective, the industry is heading in the right direction as housing permits are up 16% from a low in April, which is good news after a plummet of 78% between September 2005 and April 2009.
Unfortunately, many local governments are anticipating further declines in property values and commercial construction, further pilfering their already barren budgets.
Though construction is searching for solid footing in its effort to rebound, faced with the challenge that commercially available credit has been decimated in the sector as real estate loan delinquencies are at record highs, the overall trend for construction costs remains negative. Compared to the high costs of August 2008...
http://www.nacm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=88&Itemid=200#6
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Florida May Consider Pay-per-Mile Motorists' Tax
Facing a likely future of dwindling gas-tax income, some Florida transportation officials are promoting a new way to raise money for highways and bridges: charging motorists by the mile.
Called the VMT, or vehicle miles traveled tax, the idea is that drivers would pay depending on how far they go, rather than how much gasoline they pump into their cars.
The mechanics and pricing of the proposal are varied, but one experiment in Oregon used a global positioning device in a fleet of cars to track their mileage. That number was read by a device at the gas pump, which taxed the user accordingly.
The test resulted in more revenue than simply taxing gasoline partly because high-mileage cars ended up paying as much as heavy, fuel-guzzlers. The VMT has gained traction as the price of gas has soared, discouraging driving and spurring people to buy more fuel-efficient cars. In Florida, that has meant a drop of almost $7 billion in the five-year work plan, from $43.5 billion to $36.2 billion.
Getting policymakers to enact the tax, however, might be a hard sell.
Right now, Florida, in combination with local government agencies, levies as much as 52 cents per gallon in gas taxes. The federal tax is 18.4 cents per gallon and has not been raised since 1993.
A bipartisan congressionally created panel called the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission recommended the VMT earlier this year. The chairman, Robert Atkinson, concluded it would raise extra money in a fair manner because it follows the "user pays" principle.
But the Obama administration has rejected the idea on a national level.
The VMT could work, but the technology may be years away. The short-term solution is to borrow money for roads and pay it off over time, speed up approvals for road work and enter into public-private partnerships.
The problem is that only 60 cents of every federal gas-tax dollar goes to highways and bridges according to a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. The rest goes for a variety of uses, from mass-transit systems such as trains and buses to bike lanes.
http://www.floridatrend.com/article.asp?aID=51731
Called the VMT, or vehicle miles traveled tax, the idea is that drivers would pay depending on how far they go, rather than how much gasoline they pump into their cars.
The mechanics and pricing of the proposal are varied, but one experiment in Oregon used a global positioning device in a fleet of cars to track their mileage. That number was read by a device at the gas pump, which taxed the user accordingly.
The test resulted in more revenue than simply taxing gasoline partly because high-mileage cars ended up paying as much as heavy, fuel-guzzlers. The VMT has gained traction as the price of gas has soared, discouraging driving and spurring people to buy more fuel-efficient cars. In Florida, that has meant a drop of almost $7 billion in the five-year work plan, from $43.5 billion to $36.2 billion.
Getting policymakers to enact the tax, however, might be a hard sell.
Right now, Florida, in combination with local government agencies, levies as much as 52 cents per gallon in gas taxes. The federal tax is 18.4 cents per gallon and has not been raised since 1993.
A bipartisan congressionally created panel called the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission recommended the VMT earlier this year. The chairman, Robert Atkinson, concluded it would raise extra money in a fair manner because it follows the "user pays" principle.
But the Obama administration has rejected the idea on a national level.
The VMT could work, but the technology may be years away. The short-term solution is to borrow money for roads and pay it off over time, speed up approvals for road work and enter into public-private partnerships.
The problem is that only 60 cents of every federal gas-tax dollar goes to highways and bridges according to a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. The rest goes for a variety of uses, from mass-transit systems such as trains and buses to bike lanes.
http://www.floridatrend.com/article.asp?aID=51731
MAF Political E News for October 2009
MAF Political E News for October 2009
The tone for the 2010 Session of the Florida Legislature is being set as you read this article. Organizational meetings for the House and Senate are taking place during the month of October. Bills for the Spring Session can now be filed. Committee Weeks have already been announced for January and February.
The average session will see over 2000 bills filed. We can see up to twenty percent of those pass and head to the governor. But, we know last year wasn’t very typical.
Just a few short weeks before the 2009 Session began, Speaker of the House Ray Sansom resigned amid serious allegations of improper conduct, and House Member, Larry Cretul was selected as the new Speaker. Then the Chief of Staff for the House resigned, which also contributed to delays in getting things accomplished in the House of Representatives. Considering all the time spent on trying to balance the budget with the help of the Federal Stimulus Package, it is amazing that 236 bills actually did pass during the 2009 Session and were sent to Governor Crist for his signature.Speaker Cretul has already notified various interested parties that he is looking to only pass about 200 bills in 2010. One would naturally expect the budget issue to be foremost topic that will dominate the time available during the sixty day session. The other emotional issue that readily comes to mind that you will hear a lot about is off shore drilling for oil.
Wade Mullins
wmullins@qualityprecast.com
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