County To Put Wheel Tax Amendment to Vote
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jordan Fouts-
Council voted to consider a reduction to the flat $40 fee assessed to vehicles not covered by the $20 surtax that began this year – most contentiously trailers, but also including tractors, RVs and buses. It took a few tries for them to decide just what the new numbers would be, ultimately voting four to three on a $15-$25-$40 fee structure.
Trailers and other vehicles subject to the wheel tax with a declared gross weight maximum of 3,000 to 5,000 pounds would be cut to $15; those 7,000 to 9,000 pounds max would be $25; and larger vehicles would remain $40. The wheel tax amendment will go to a vote next month, and if unanimously approved, would take effect next year.
Councilmen Jim Moyer, Doug Heinisch and Jon Garber voted against the amendment, having argued that, until council knows how much money the fees generate this year, they have only estimates to base their decision on.
The vote followed two failed proposals and a lot of back-of-the-envelope math as council tried to estimate lost revenue based on the number of trailers in the county, weighing those losses of $100,000 to $300,000 against moving the wheel tax toward fairness. A proposed $20-$30-$40 fee structure received only two votes and a $15-$20-$40 proposal died for lack of a second.
They voted on drafting the amendment after hearing that county Highway Superintendent Scott Tilden provided a list of 16 roads he would like to prioritize in the next two years, as well as others needing less serious repair. The 16 roads alone would cost $1.7 million to repave, which is the same amount the county expects to receive as its share of the registration fees.
County Commissioners Bob Conley and Ron Truex spoke ahead of the vote, both observing they have the impression residents are more bothered by the state of the roads than the cost of the wheel tax.
“If you roll it back, I don’t want you to forget how we got here – we were getting a lot of calls last year about the bad roads. We’re getting fewer complaints now about the wheel tax than the number of calls we used to get on the roads,” Truex said. “We can cut out $300,000, no problem, it will just take longer to fix the roads. You guys have the opportunity to decide how long it will take to fix the roads.”
Earlier in the meeting, council voted to proceed on a tax abatement request for a vacant building at 230 W. Old 30. Attorney Steve Snyder, representing petitioner Al and the J’s Enterprise, said purchase of the building depends on getting a three-year abatement on improvements necessary to lease it to two tenants.
Snyder said the plan is for D&D Maintenance and Core Mechanical to move in, which would allow them to hire seven more employees between them with a total payroll increase of about $250,000. The building, which Snyder said qualifies for an abatement since it has been completely vacant for two years, would need around $45,000 in improvements.
“All they really have to do to qualify (for the abatement) is move in,” Snyder remarked.
Also Thursday, council heard from Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. President George Robertson that he anticipates making four announcements soon on business that plan to expand in the county. He said he expects them to finish building and start hiring by fall.
He also announced KEDCo is working with OrthoWorx to attract niche orthopedic companies to the county by touting the surplus of administrative-level workers expected to be declared redundant in the Zimmer-Biomet merger. He added he doesn’t expect manufacturing jobs to be lost in the same numbers in the merger.
“There are literally hundreds of those kinds of nich companies (and) the talent is available,” Robertson said. “We’re excited about it, because it takes some layoffs and turns it into an opportunity to keep people here.”[[In-content Ad]]
Council voted to consider a reduction to the flat $40 fee assessed to vehicles not covered by the $20 surtax that began this year – most contentiously trailers, but also including tractors, RVs and buses. It took a few tries for them to decide just what the new numbers would be, ultimately voting four to three on a $15-$25-$40 fee structure.
Trailers and other vehicles subject to the wheel tax with a declared gross weight maximum of 3,000 to 5,000 pounds would be cut to $15; those 7,000 to 9,000 pounds max would be $25; and larger vehicles would remain $40. The wheel tax amendment will go to a vote next month, and if unanimously approved, would take effect next year.
Councilmen Jim Moyer, Doug Heinisch and Jon Garber voted against the amendment, having argued that, until council knows how much money the fees generate this year, they have only estimates to base their decision on.
The vote followed two failed proposals and a lot of back-of-the-envelope math as council tried to estimate lost revenue based on the number of trailers in the county, weighing those losses of $100,000 to $300,000 against moving the wheel tax toward fairness. A proposed $20-$30-$40 fee structure received only two votes and a $15-$20-$40 proposal died for lack of a second.
They voted on drafting the amendment after hearing that county Highway Superintendent Scott Tilden provided a list of 16 roads he would like to prioritize in the next two years, as well as others needing less serious repair. The 16 roads alone would cost $1.7 million to repave, which is the same amount the county expects to receive as its share of the registration fees.
County Commissioners Bob Conley and Ron Truex spoke ahead of the vote, both observing they have the impression residents are more bothered by the state of the roads than the cost of the wheel tax.
“If you roll it back, I don’t want you to forget how we got here – we were getting a lot of calls last year about the bad roads. We’re getting fewer complaints now about the wheel tax than the number of calls we used to get on the roads,” Truex said. “We can cut out $300,000, no problem, it will just take longer to fix the roads. You guys have the opportunity to decide how long it will take to fix the roads.”
Earlier in the meeting, council voted to proceed on a tax abatement request for a vacant building at 230 W. Old 30. Attorney Steve Snyder, representing petitioner Al and the J’s Enterprise, said purchase of the building depends on getting a three-year abatement on improvements necessary to lease it to two tenants.
Snyder said the plan is for D&D Maintenance and Core Mechanical to move in, which would allow them to hire seven more employees between them with a total payroll increase of about $250,000. The building, which Snyder said qualifies for an abatement since it has been completely vacant for two years, would need around $45,000 in improvements.
“All they really have to do to qualify (for the abatement) is move in,” Snyder remarked.
Also Thursday, council heard from Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. President George Robertson that he anticipates making four announcements soon on business that plan to expand in the county. He said he expects them to finish building and start hiring by fall.
He also announced KEDCo is working with OrthoWorx to attract niche orthopedic companies to the county by touting the surplus of administrative-level workers expected to be declared redundant in the Zimmer-Biomet merger. He added he doesn’t expect manufacturing jobs to be lost in the same numbers in the merger.
“There are literally hundreds of those kinds of nich companies (and) the talent is available,” Robertson said. “We’re excited about it, because it takes some layoffs and turns it into an opportunity to keep people here.”[[In-content Ad]]
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