Council Weighs Fairness, Lost Funds in Wheel Tax Talk
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Jordan Fouts-
The county may consider revising the wheel tax as early as next month, though council members expressed reluctance to act without a better idea of how much road money might be lost. Based on fees set by surrounding counties, council President Bob Sanders suggested during Thursday’s meeting a yearly charge of $15 for trailers between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds and $20 for trailers up to 12,000 pounds. Heavier trailers would remain $40, and the $25 surtax on cars would be knocked down to $15 for motorcycles. He said he proposed the changes based on comments from residents who think $40 is too much to charge for small trailers as well as large. The revision would have to pass by June to take effect next year. He projected a loss of about $300,000 under the lower fees, based on the number of trailers of different weights registered in the county. If expenses are similar to last year, in the $5.4 million range, he estimated an end-of-year highway balance of $604,000, “which is pretty much being broke.” The county would have to find a way to make up the difference in order to keep the highway department in the black, he said, though he noted the state has talked about implementing more ways to provide road money for counties. He also observed that, as of 2008, residents are no longer paying personal property taxes on trailers and recreational vehicles, which in some cases exceeded the $40 wheel tax. And he remarked that the state gave counties the option of the wheel tax in 1980 but “it took us till 2014 to pass it – I think this county did very well to hold off as long as we did ... Maybe we did the right thing by going to the max, instead of having to come back and try to increase it later.” Councilmen Brad Tandy and Doug Heinisch said they are reluctant to take action without a more solid idea of what the taxes are expected to take in. “We’re slow as a body to gather information, and it would be hard if by May we had to decide to make a change,” Heinisch said. “I would feel better if you gave us more time, and if it has to go past June, then it has to go past June.” Tandy observed that the tax brought in about $70,000 in its first month, which councilman Jon Fussle pointed out would only be $840,000 for the year – far short of the $2.4 million projection, of which the county’s share would be $1.7 million. Sanders replied that January’s total is missing the first 11 days of the month, since the Bureau of Motor Vehicles didn’t get the fees into their computers in time, but that the county was assured it would be compensated. He also said they should take into consideration the fact that the time license plates are due to be renewed is assigned based on the first few letters of the owner’s last name, so every month is going to be different. He added that the BMV hadn’t yet given them an exact total for the number of vehicles registered in the county. “Next month, we either come in here with an ordinance or say we’ll wait till May, when we have a little time under our belt to see how much money we got coming in,” Sanders said.
