PERU – Miami County residents will be paying a new $20 tax on their cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles.
The Miami County Council Tuesday approved a highway-user tax, or wheel tax, on every vehicle in the county to offset sharp budget shortfalls that led to the layoff of 10 full-time county employees and cuts to the library and county museum this year.
Council approved a $20 flat rate on cars, trucks and motorcycles, and rates ranging from $10 to $40 on vehicles such as buses, trailers, RVs and semis. The tax takes effect Jan. 1, 2016, and must be paid every time a vehicle is registered.
The state allows counties to adopt the tax as either a flat fee between $7.50 and $25, or based on a percentage of a vehicle’s excise tax.
With more than 39,000 registered vehicles in the county, the tax is projected to annually raise more than $783,000. The money can only be used to construct, repair or maintain streets and roads.
The money also will help the county’s general fund, however, since the county distributes around $300,000 annually to the highway department for workers’ health insurance and benefits.
The county will now stop distributing the money to the highway department and keep it in the general fund for other expenditures.
Cities and towns in the county are estimated to receive in total $124,000 of the tax revenue.
Council approved the wheel tax 5-1 with little discussion after holding an hour-long public meeting last week to discuss implementing it.
Councilwoman Linda Harp cast the only ‘no’ vote against the measure. Councilman Craig Boyer was not able to attend the meeting because of health issues.
Miami County resident Jill Sharp was the only person to speak out against the tax during Tuesday’s meeting.
“I understand that we need funds to pay for our roads, but I have children that I need to feed, and I want to raise them in this community,” she said. “But why would I want to stay here when we’re taxed and taxed and taxed?”
Council President Ralph Duckwall said the county has reduced other taxes on things like home real estate, but with steep cuts to its budget, the county needs more revenue to operate.
“We’ve done a lot of things to reduce other taxes, but that doesn’t help our cash flow,” he said.
Fifty Indiana counties now have a wheel tax after Tuesday’s vote, including Howard, Tipton and Cass counties.