An increase in Maryland’s gas tax could be a quick fix for the state’s depleted transportation fund, key members of a blue-ribbon financing commission said Friday, while cautioning that the move — a tough sell on its own — would not solve long-term woes.

The discussion came during a 90-minute session with Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation Funding at Slayton House in Wilde Lake. The discussion, before more than 100 people, including a number of local legislators and officials, seemed aimed more at readying the public for decisions that may come next fall or winter. The commission has made some recommendations but won’t complete its work until fall.

Del. Sheila E. Hixson, chairwoman of the House Ways and Means committee, and Kathy Snyder, president of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, said they support a rise in the 23.5-cent-per-gallon tax. Hixson said such an increase “is the easiest tax to pass. People see it as a user fee. … We don’t get the push-back on it.”

But O’Malley said other lawmakers have proved wary of a gas tax increase.

“There is one tax the business community universally supports — the gas tax. There is one tax the general public universally opposes — the gas tax,” he said. “As I met with delegates and senators one by one, they said … ‘By golly, don’t ask me to vote for a gas tax.’”

Maryland Republican Party Chairman Alex X. Mooney swiftly issued a

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