A special transportation committee gave final approval Wednesday to a report that proposes creating a tax on the number of miles a car is driven each year, as well as several other options for generating highway and transit money.

The vehicle miles tax would be calculated during the car's annual inspection and likely would supplement or replace the gas tax. Legislators on the 21st Century Transportation Committee cautioned that a new tax is unlikely to advance during the sort of budget crisis the state faces this year.

The special committee was formed to propose a menu of options for transportation funding, because the state's primary sources of money, the gas tax and a tax on car sales, are flat or declining in revenue because of factors such as more fuel efficient and longer lasting vehicles.

The group also proposed toll booths on I-77 and I-95.

Committee member Chuck McGrady, however, said the committee skirted the question of overhauling how the Department of Transportation operates after years of complaints about turf battles, political patronage and dysfunctional divisions.

"We haven't gone far enough," said McGrady, a Henderson County Commissioner.

Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy, another committee member, cast the lone 'no' vote on the final version of the recommendations, saying the vehicle miles tax unfairly penalized rural residents with long commutes and no public transportation.

Committee chair Brad Wilson, chief operating officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, said the road funding report could gather dust on a shelf unless individuals and communities support the recommendations. He acknowledged that raising new taxes is unpopular but said that a failing transportation system will make the state less attractive to new employers.

Criticism of the report after the jump.

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Barack Obama's campaign has announced only one mayoral endorsement in North Carolina.

More announcements will roll out in the next few weeks, however.

According to a March 11 story in the Durham Herald-Sun, Durham Mayor Bill Bell has taken the lead in persuading other mayors to back Obama.

That's probably in part payback for Obama's endorsement of Bell before the November mayoral race.

Along with Bell and Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson, the story also quotes Bell saying Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy, Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson and Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton have endorsed Obama.

"Bell said there are other mayors who have 'committed but not come out publicly yet' for Obama, in towns both large and small," wrote reporter Ray Gronberg.