Higher gas and diesel taxes and increased vehicle license and registration fees are among suggested revenue sources to help California close a growing road and highway maintenance funding gap. The plan was presented in Sacramento earlier this week by a coalition of local government, business, and labor groups. It says the state needs about 60-billion dollars over the next 10 years. In Nevada County, Public Works Director Steve Castleberry says they now need another 2-million dollars a year to maintain current conditions or perhaps improve them, or about a 20-percent budget increase…

click to listen to Steve Castleberry

Castleberry says roads in need of more upgrades include Dog Bar, Squirrel, Spenceville, North Bloomfield, Perimeter, and Pleasant Valley…

click to listen to Steve Castleberry

Castleberry says the funding gap has increased since money ran out from the five-year Proposition 1B transportation program that was approved by voters to at least temporarily address the issue. One notable omission from the coalition’s list of revenue-raising suggestions is a system of charging motorists based on miles driven, instead of the fuel they pump.