County Council To Consider Wheel Tax Changes Next Month
Posted
Jordan Fouts-
Minutes after adjourning Thursday without taking any action on the wheel tax, Kosciusko County Council reconvened and voted to decide its fate next month. Councilman Larry Teghtmeyer motioned to put the wheel tax on the agenda for the April 9 meeting as discussion continued past the end of the meeting Thursday. Council President Bob Sanders reconvened in order to hold a formal vote, after Teghtmeyer asked what the plan was for addressing the tax. Council will decide next month whether to keep the $40 fee for vehicles not covered by the $25 surcharge or to amend it. Councilman Doug Heinisch voted against making a decision next month, having said earlier in the meeting that the county “can’t give away funding at this point.” Council heard Thursday that the two charges have gathered $434,982 so far this year. Member Jon Fussle calculated it puts them on track for the estimated $2.6 million yearly total – of which the county itself would receive roughly $1.3 million, the rest going to 13 cities and towns – far better than the $70,000 gathered in January alone. But members expressed uncertainty over whether the year-to-date total would hold pace. Councilman Jim Moyer observed the total collected so far isn’t enough to cover even the $500,000 needed to patch the roads, a cost he expects to be higher this year, and said he would like a full year of data before making a decision. The county would see about $300,000 less for the year under Sanders’ suggestion last month to lower the wheel tax to $15 to $20 for smaller trailers. He noted Thursday that a state senate proposal to exempt companies with $20,000 or less in equipment from business personal property tax would see a further loss to the county of $316,000. Council first considered revising the tax last month on the observation that applying the $40 wheel tax to trailers small as well as large has been decried as unfair. They would have to reach a decision in June in order for any changes to the wheel tax to take effect in January. Also Thursday, council approved a $25,000 additional appropriation for Bell Memorial Library at the request of new Director Stephen Boggs, who said they are renovating three rooms vacated by a daycare. One will be turned into a media room with additional computers, one into a large conference room and the third into a young adult space, Boggs said.
