After nearly an hour of presentations and discussion on Monday, the Marshall County Council failed to get a motion to take any action on the implementation of a wheel tax and LOHUT tax for the county.
Council members received letters of support from the City of Plymouth and Town of Culver and heard from a few citizens who were not in favor of another tax.
Stan Klotz from Bremen said, “I see some misconceptions around the county. It appears to me there’s a notion that if we pass this tax it guarantees the roads gets fixed and that’s just not a guarantee.” He then asked if anyone had identified how the roads got so bad. He said, “The problem is an accumulation of decisions we made in the past.” He also suggested oversight on the money if the tax is passed by placing it is a separate fund and make sure the gas tax dollars aren’t getting differed.
State Representative Tim Harman discussed the funding mechanism and the total amount of funding the state provides to counties. He said, “According to the Department of Local Government Finance website in 2011 when you combine the highway, local road and street numbers those were roughly $3.2 million. Today it is almost $5.1 million.” He continued, “In 2013 the general assembly did make a commitment, and I believe they came through to increase local road funding about a third. If you look at the 2013 and 2014 numbers if went from $3.7 million combined up to $4.7 million.” Harman said The Speaker said that 2016 and 2017 wants to make those years infrastructure years. He suggested 2017 would take care of local road funding although there’s no guarantee.
The final vocal opponent during the public input portion of the meeting was Lisa Hebner who said, “The benefits of good county roads are obvious to all of us. Properly maintained roads should be a priority of the county.” She noted Senator Mishler’s survey where 57% voted against allowing the state gas tax to change with the rate of inflation each year to maintain funding for road projects. She said, “Taxpayers are demanding that government entities on all levels have a long term plan, find efficiencies, prioritize spending and live within your budget, not raise taxes.” Hebner said the 2015 budget highway and local road and street is $5 million, of which $1.5 million is for repairs and maintenance, $200,000 if budgeted for 7th Road and $424,000 is budgeted for cum cap development which could be added to road maintenance in the future. She suggested waiting on the state legislature to address the issue next year.
Later in the meeting, as an agenda item, Stephanie Thomas of 7th Road said she believes poor foundations and neglect are the big issues to the road problems. She also had concerns that farm equipment does a lot of damage to the roadways and won’t pay the wheel tax or LOHUT. Thomas also noted that Amish buggies are not taxed either. She also said, “Jason (Peters) needs to ride around and check on employees to make sure that they are doing their job correctly. That’s good management.” Thomas suggested county employees need additional training to do their job correctly in patching potholes and plowing snow. Stephanie asked why a “Frost Ban” wasn’t implemented in Marshall County. She too encouraged the county, not an organization they belong to go downstate and ask for more funding for roads.
Jason Peter, Supervisor of County Highways presented his 2015 road program and show that additional work that could be accomplished with the estimated additional $850,000 from the LOHUT. He told the County he would be able to chip and seal and additional 25 miles of roadway for $300,000 and 10 miles of paving for $450,000 and sill have about $100,000 for undetermined road work.
Laurie Baker, the Highway Administrator handed out a sheet with details on material cost increases from 2003 to 2014. The smallest increase was 62% for chop and add gravel while single chip and seal increase from $5,150 to $12,000 a 133 percent increase. Hot mix increased 100% from $28 to $56 and patch went from $30 to $85, a 183% increase. Baker also showed the budget for the Highway, Cum. Bridge and Local Road and Street funds just for stone, gravel, aggregate and bituminous. In 2003 the county’s budget for was $1,580,000 and this year it’s $1,657,500. Revenue in 2003 was $3.647 million while in 2014 the revenue was $4.533 million.
Council member Steve Harper asked how many miles of bad road we have right now and Peter estimated 60 to 70 miles.
Councilwoman Judy Stone asked what would happen if the wheel tax and LOHUT weren’t implemented to wit Peters said, “We will keep continuing to put band-aids on and try to make them as safe as we possibly can.”
Council president Matt Hassel said, “I don’t see it. I don’t see how you are going to maintain these roads with this kind of income even with the LOHUT. Some road are going to have to revert back to gravel because it’s less maintenance. This battle started in about 98 when the state changed the way the paid the counties back for the excise tax. They kept extra change for themselves and cut us out and try to force us to implement the LOHUT tax.”
