CROWN POINT — Saying the wheel tax is needed for the city to have a "fighting chance to save our own roads," Mayor David Uran sought and got an endorsement for the tax at last week's Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.
A proposal for a $25 tax on vehicles weighing up to 11,000 pounds and $40 for those over that weight will be introduced at Monday's City Council meeting after being endorsed by the council's ordinance committee earlier this month. Uran said the Board of Public Works deals with the contracts and the road complaints and asked for its support.
"Our jobs are not always to make the most popular decision but to make the right one," he said.
The tax is expected to raise about $1.6 million and, if approved by the end of June along with an asset management plan for maintaining city roads, it could qualify the city for additional matching funds from the state of up to $2 million. The city now spends about $570,000 a year from the state gas tax money and property taxes and has supplemented that with money from the Redevelopment Commission for projects within the city's tax increment financing districts.
"Instead of the money going to Indianapolis and part of it being used to help other communities, the wheel tax money stays here and can be used to get even more money for roads," he said. "If we get the full maximum of $2 million, we would have close to $6 million for roads, and I don't know how we would get that much work done in a year, but we are going to try."
Uran said the matching funds are expected to decrease in coming years, and the city would be competing with other communities. The state Legislature said the communities have to be willing to help themselves with the tax first to get the matching funds.
Councilman Bob Clemons, chairman of the ordinance committee and a member of the board of works, said, "People don't like taxes, but it would be a shame if we didn't do this. Once people understand how it works, they are for it."
Board member Randy Palmateer called the wheel tax a "maintenance fee" for the roads and said it will help put people to work with good-paying jobs. Board member Michael Conquest said he's very much in favor of the tax.
"Our streets are nowhere near as nice as what I see in other municipalities," Conquest said. "You don't get fire protection or police protection if you don't have the money for it, and it's the same with streets."
Uran said the additional funding would mean a street the city couldn't afford to do for another 16 years might get done in four. Board member Tim Grzych asked if the city could charge senior citizens less, but Uran said the law doesn't allow that. It's a flat rate for each vehicle, and Conquest said it's cheaper than fixing a tire or a rim.
If Lake County also approved a wheel tax, Crown Point residents would not have to pay both, Uran said.
With 138 miles of roads, Crown Point is falling woefully behind on maintaining existing roads. The average life span of an asphalt road is about 15 years and the current budget covers work on one or two miles of road a year.
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, who sponsored the legislation to give communities with a population more than 10,000 the power to adopt the wheel tax, said the law would not exclude city residents from having to pay the county tax as well. Soliday said several communities in Lake and Porter counties are considering the tax, but he didn't think either county is considering the tax at this point.
"We asked what tools the communities wanted, and this was the one they chose," Soliday said. "We decided to try this for communities with 10,000 population and over and see what happens. If we end up with them doubling up on the tax and it is a problem, we will deal with it.
"Many cities are on a 50- to 80-year repaving cycle. The Legislature's attitude is they are not going to raise all the taxes and have the locals spend it. There needs to be accountability at the local level. What we tried to do was make the law restrictive on what they can spend the money for."
To qualify for the state matching grants, funded by the state's budget surplus, communities have to create an asset management plan for the roads that takes care of more than just resurfacing, Soliday said.
"If you just pave the top, it just gets worse. The federal government was going to mandate an asset management plan, so we agreed to give the locals the power to tax if they have the plan. They can use Rainy Day Funds, the local option income tax or the wheel tax as their share of the local match for roads and bridges."
Uran agreed it's unlikely Lake County will adopt a wheel tax saying, "The Indiana wheel tax law has been in place since 1980, and the county has never enacted it onto Lake County residents.
"If they do, we would revisit our legislation, if it is passed by the council, so our residents are not double-taxed for our local roads."