Republican state lawmakers also aren't happy with Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear decision to freeze the gas tax.

They say the freeze isn't saving drivers that much money, but it's hurting Kentucky roads.

Our Jim Leffler explains.

Beshear issued an executive order last month reducing the tax drivers pay at Kentucky's gas pumps.

The $0.10 per gallon allows the average driver to realize about a $5 per month savings at the pump.

That's the that's the amount of gas tax that they would have otherwise paid without the reduction equivalent of $1.15 a week in gas tax.

That comes with the loss of dollars going towards public roads.

This reduces revenues by 25 million a month, which means about a 4.6 million loss per month for the counties and another 1.9 million loss for municipal road aid.

This year.

The General Assembly allocated billions of dollars to fund road projects.

Republicans say every dollar they budgeted matters.

You know how much money does one side of the valley hard for $5.

And then I started thinking about how much a new set of tires cost.

Do you know how much a new set of tires costs for anyone at the table?

Well, I hit a pothole in Frankfort last December, and I had the pleasure of spending $1,000 on four new tires.

And that's a lot of money.

For the $5, you would maybe save it for the wear and tear that cars are going to see, from in your local levels of potholes, and different damage that we're going to see if roads aren't getting paved.

Republicans on a transportation committee criticized the governor's move.

We are already working with an antiquated revenue system for our transportation cabinet, our road funds that needs to be updated.

We're not getting the funds we need now.

We don't need another $27 million a month cut from it.

For what?

Really and truly for what?

You know what our responsibility is to be leaders and make hard decisions.

And this is not leadership.

This is pandering.

If it was not an emergency in 2022, why is it now?

And I think we all know what the difference is.

It has to do with who was president.

Who is president and who wants to be president.

A spokesperson for the governor sent a statement to Wkyt which reads in part, quote, Governor Beshear's action to lower soaring gas prices across the state helped families put more of their hard earned dollars back in their pockets.

The statement goes on to read, quote, please ask each of the Republicans if they believe Donald Trump is pandering or irresponsible and proposing a similar reduction of the federal gas tax.

Beshear has suggested lawmakers dip into the rainy day fund to backfill the tax freeze.

The General Assembly did draw $230 million from that reserve fund for highway projects.

The reduction at the gas pump began on May 11th and ends June 10th, but local governments can request to extend that.

For Kentucky edition.

I'm Jen Leffler.

Many thanks, Jen, for that report.

Last month, the governor also ordered a decrease decrease in property taxes on newer vehicles.