The legislature’s top republican says Iowa’s cities won’t get their wish for a larger share of the state tax dollars dedicated to road maintenance and construction. You pay 20 cents in taxes to the state on every gallon of gas purchased in Iowa. The money’s used for roads and highways. The mayors of Iowa’s largest cities say rural Iowa gets too much of the money, and cities that have higher traffic loads are short-changed. House Speaker Brent Siegrist, a republican from Council Bluffs, says he won’t allow the issue to be debated in the legislature this coming year. Siegrist says he can understand why Iowa’s larger cities feel they way they do, but he says taking away money for rural road construction and maintenance would strangle rural Iowa economically. Vehicle license fees also finance road construction projects in Iowa.
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