The state Department of Transportation's multi-billion dollar budget isn't enough to maintain the state's roads at their current condition, and Sen. Jud Gilbert, R-Algonac, wants solutions.

Recently, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill Gilbert sponsored last year that will create a task force and citizen advisory committee charged with proposing alternative revenue sources to pay for the state's transportation needs.

"This last construction season was the peak. You saw more orange barrels than you had in prior years, and you're going to (begin to) see a deterioration in the roads system," Gilbert said. "But (roads are) part of the whole economic puzzle to make Michigan a good place to do business. Another thing to recognize, construction jobs are very good jobs. They're almost an economic stimulus."

At $1.3 billion, the 2008 road budget is nearly 20% less than last year, said Bill Shreck, MDOT's communications director. Three years later, the projected budget falls to $1.16 billion.

The decline is due in part to the fact the state has spent bond money generated in previous years, Gilbert said, but another factor is declining gasoline consumption.

Much of the state's roads budget is generated by the 19-cent tax on each gallon of gasoline sold. Cars, however, have grown increasingly fuel efficient, and Wednesday, the price of a barrel of oil passed the $100 threshold - forcing prices at the pump up.

Gilbert said Thursday no legislator "on either side of the aisle" is prepared to raise taxes. He then proposed two solutions that would potentially raise taxes.

The state, he said, could adopt a "mileage tax" whereby each persons' mileage would be recorded at the gas pump and taxed in place of the traditional gas tax. A task force in Oregon has proposed such a solution to that state's roads budget crisis.

He also suggested the task force consider raising the sales tax one penny.

The task force will be comprised of nine representatives from industrial sectors such as agriculture, public transit, commerce and aviation as well as a representative of the House speaker and Senate majority leader.

The 19-member citizens advisory committee also will be comprised largely of industry representatives.