The chairman of a panel looking for ways to solve the state's multi-billion dollar shortfall in road funding says there are a number of tax increases the new governor and General Assembly should consider next year.

Thursday, Brad Wilson convened the first meeting of the 21st Century Transportation Committee since the short session of the legislature ended. Lawmakers approved more money for the North Carolina Turnpike Authority but didn't address the state's long term transportation needs.

"Sticking our head in the sand under the banner of 'No new taxes' or 'No new fees' is, I think, both irresponsible and a formula for failure," Wilson said after the meeting, although he said the prospect of raising taxes is distasteful.

Wilson said all tax options - including charging drivers for how much they travel - are on the table as the committee looks at ways to fill a projected $64 billion construction shortage over the next 22 years.

Among those options the panel will study is plan to charge drivers for how much they drive - a contentious proposal some other states, including South Dakota, have kicked around. Under the measure, North Carolina motorists would be taxed for every mile over the state's average they drive.

For example, a motorist's first 12,000 miles - an estimated average - would not be taxed, but drivers who go over that average would be charged a fraction of a penny for each additional mile they drive, Wilson said. But how the state could measure and charge that has yet to be determined, he said.

Also being studied is a plan to transform roadways in dire need of maintenance, such as Interstate 95, into toll routes.

Wilson's call comes just months after the North Carolina Turnpike Authority secured millions in state money to help pay for building new toll roads that won't be covered by user fees.

The panel also will consider hiking existing road and vehicle fees along with transferring some roads under state control to the counties.

State Rep. Nelson Cole, D-Rockingham, said local property taxes then could be raised to cover the maintenance of those transferred roads.

Cole said some new residents, including retirees, have moved to the state to take advantage of low property taxes.

The state's Fiscal Research Division estimates that less than $1 of the average North Carolina resident's local property taxes go toward highways, while the national average is $27.

The call to draft tax increases comes at a time when many states, including North Carolina, are struggling to keep pace fixing their crumbling road and bridges as the cost of construction materials, such as asphalt and steel, have escalated.

North Carolina's primary road funding sources - the vehicle sales tax and the per-gallon fuel tax, capped at 29.9 cents - have declined or been stagnant over the last five years. That's due, in part, to motorists buying more fuel-efficient vehicles and curbing gas consumption amid high oil prices.

"Most of the state's transportation money comes from the gasoline tax, and that's a problem," he said. "People are driving less and buying more fuel efficient cars, so tax revenues are going down and that won't change. Those revenue streams are not going to sustain us. They're not sustaining us now."

On the national level, Congress is grappling with ways to fill a multibillion hole in the federal Highway Trust Fund. That source provides North Carolina with about one-quarter of its roughly $4 billion highway budget.

Wilson said he wants the panel to present lawmakers with a menu they can select from when they return in January. The group will meet again next month.

"Like it or not, we're not going to get out of the hole that we're in, just by shuffling around the current money," Wilson said.

The committee will present a list of recommendations to the General Assembly in January.