SLO County drivers brace for jump in gas prices when new tax kicks in

Lisa Leutwyler of San Luis Obispo topped off her gas tank Tuesday afternoon at Costco, knowing the price for fuel is set to rise statewide come Wednesday.

Leutwyler did not mince words when she said she is strongly against the 12-cent increase in the base gasoline excise tax.

“If the government would spend the money the way they should, we wouldn’t have to do this,” said Leutwyler, who fills up her tank weekly at Costco’s ever-busy station at 1540 Froom Ranch Way.

Senate Bill 1 was signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Jerry Brown, who supported the measure that will raise more than $52 billion over the next decade to help pay for extensive road-improvement programs statewide. Public transit and other transportation programs likewise will benefit.

Leutwyler, who has lived in San Luis Obispo County since the 1980s, expressed concern that the extra tax dollars may not go where they’re supposed to.

“If something else needs the funding, (the California government) will go and borrow it from wherever,” Leutwyler said. “If they had been fiscally responsible, there would have been enough money over all the years that we’ve paid higher taxes and gas prices than any other state to repair our roads.”

Opponents of SB 1 — which includes the local Central Coast Taxpayers Association — are trying to get a repeal measure on next year’s ballot.

They see the tax and fee increases as a rip-off, especially for lower-income Californians. They believe the state should live within its means, and they don’t trust Sacramento to allocate additional tax revenue to local agencies.

“Although the revenue from this new tax and fee increase is supposed to be dedicated to transportation, history has demonstrated that Sacramento will find ways to spend these resources on other things,” said Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, who voted against SB 1.

Brian Palmer, a Cambria resident, said Tuesday that he was unaware of the tax increase while purchasing gas from the Shell station on the corner of Los Osos Valley and Madonna roads, but he supports the idea.

“I would pay more to improve our roads. That’s fair taxation,” Palmer said. “The people who use the road are the people who are paying for it.”

For 23-year-old Santa Margarita resident Dave Miles, the increase in registration fees is more concerning than the hike in gas prices. People will pay a new “transportation improvement fee” along with the state’s normal registration fee that will will range from $25 to $175, depending on the value of their vehicle.

Miles drives a 2500 Dodge Cummins, and it costs about $200 per month to fill with diesel fuel. So he’s used to paying extra at the pump.

But the increase in annual registration fees?

“That one I’m not too happy about,” Miles said. “I’m already paying, I think, it’s going to be $400 or $500 because it’s a work-style vehicle.”

According to the most recent report by national gas price tracker GasBuddy.com, the average retail price of gas in California is $3.05, the second-highest in the country behind only Hawaii at $3.14.

“Californians are fairly resilient, and they’re used to paying some of the nation’s highest gas prices already,” Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, told the Fresno Bee.

The 12-cent increase on gasoline probably won’t affect most people yet because gas prices are generally low, DeHaan said. The current state average for a gallon of gas is “a far cry from the $3.50 to $4 range that prices were from 2011 to 2014,” he added.

This story was originally published October 31, 2017 at 7:00 PM with the headline "SLO County drivers brace for jump in gas prices when new tax kicks in."