Arkansas Trucking Association Opposes State Bond Measure
he Arkansas Trucking Association’s executive committee has voted unanimously to oppose a renewal of a 1999 bond program on highway improvements that the state’s voters will decide in a Dec. 13 special election, the Associated Press reported.
The state trucking group, which had been expected to support a bond issue to provide money for highway improvements, said instead that they would fight the proposal because it could obligate the state to a $1 billion debt, AP reported.
The announcement was made shortly before Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) held a news conference to unveil a logo to be used in a campaign for passage of the highway bond issue as well as another bond issue that would provide money for schools, AP said.
But trucking officials strongly object to wording in the ballot question that would transfer authority to approve bonds from Arkansas voters to the appointed state Highway Commission, Arkansas Trucking Association President Lane Kidd said.
He said the association supported the 1999 program because the roads its members traveled were in a dismal state of repair, AP reported. The bonds were the most expedient way to fix them but also turned out to be the most expensive way to repair roads, Kidd said.
Under the proposed extension, the state would forever obligate about $1 billion of debt in exchange for $575 million of highway money, or about $2 for ever $1 to be spent on roads, the trucking association said.
