Ask Mr. Answer Person: "Who paid for the signs saying the higher gas tax paid for Pole Line Road construction?"

(Jason e-mails Mr. Answer Person: "If you drive on the Pole Line Road there are some new, large signs that...say the road (is) being paid for by the new gas tax, which is fine.  But I would like to know who paid for the sign and why would they spend money on a sign instead of spending that money on another county road?  I recall the new gas tax money was to be spent 100 percent directly on road improvements.  Is the sign a road improvement that we needed to spend money on?")

Mr. Answer Person says, "The answer, of course, is that the signs were paid for using state funds.  There are two reasons state officials are spending money on signs: 1) The expense for signs is minor.  It's not like state officials had to choose between buying signs and paving 5 miles of highway, as your e-mail seems to suggest.  2) The signs have gone up in response to criticism about the higher gas tax (although gasoline sold for $2.42 a gallon when the higher Iowa gas tax went into effect--and it's now selling for $1.74 a gallon, so the higher tax isn't readily apparent.  The biggest criticism made was that the high gas tax hadn't made any difference in Iowa's road system--which is why state officials have decided to make signs saying "This road construction was paid with money from Iowa's gas tax."