The cost of gasoline will go up again in Kentucky - News, Weather, Sports, Toledo, OH

The cost of gasoline will go up again in Kentucky, this time the result of an automatic tax increase written into law more than three decades ago.

Lawmakers were told in a meeting of the Interim Joint Transportation Committee on Tuesday that the gasoline tax will rise 2.4 cents next month to 32.3 cents a gallon, which would generate some $900 million over the next fiscal year.

Under Kentucky law, the gasoline tax is subject to periodic increases based on a formula that ties the rate to wholesale fuel prices.

Kentucky surveys wholesale gasoline prices every three months to determine whether the gas tax should rise or fall. That's meant a consistent string of increases over at least the past five years that have pushed the tax rate up by more than 11 cents a gallon.

Lawmakers implemented the current system in 1980 amid concerns that rising gasoline prices would cause people to purchase less fuel, which would mean less revenue for highway maintenance and construction.