Better roads in Huntington County are the promise of the highway department as a wheel surtax and excise begins in 2016.
Starting Today those needing to renew their license plates will have to pay more as part of the new tax, commonly known as a "wheel tax." The tax is designed to help pay for the repair of roadways throughout the county, which with 600 miles of Huntington County Highway-regulated roads is a bit of an undertaking.
The tax has two "brackets", with the vast majority of vehicles, including motorcycles, mopeds, passenger vehicles and trucks with a declared gross weight below 11,000 pounds paying $15 annually as part of the "excise" portion of the tax, according to the official ordinance signed by Huntington County Council in July.
Commercial vehicles like buses, semi trailers and heavy trailers more than 12,000 pounds in weight are subject to the heigher bracket of $30 annually, along with recreational vehicles, according to the ordinance.
The name "wheel tax" may be a bit misleading, as the tax is collected annually upon vehicle registration with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Huntington County Highway Superintendent Troy Hostetler said.
Hostetler explained that the tax is a way for his department to generate much-needed revenue in order to keep the county roads up-to-date and safe for travelers. Based on rough estimates he said the additional revenue would be about $500,000 per year. Compared to the $325,000 that typically comes into the department's road and street budget it's obvious the revenue will drastically increase how much funding can be used to do roadwork.
Although prices of the materials needed for road repair vary, Hostetler said that it costs about $12,000 per mile to chipseal roadways.
"We are going from basically 30 miles to 80 miles that we will be able to do (annually)," Hostetler said. "It makes a big difference."
With the amount of roads in the county under highway department jurisdiction this would have a road repaired every seven years, which Hostetler explained was the Indiana Department of Transportation recommendation.
"The big thing is maintaining and keeping what we got," Hostetler said. "I think a lot of people saw what happend this last spring with all the potholes and soft spots."
Although the ordinance could be seen as "another tax", Hostetler said that the extra revenue would be put to good use.
"We know it's taxpayers' money and they want to see results, and that's what we plan on doing," Hostetler said.
Huntington County Commissioner President Tom Wall said that although helpful the wheel tax is not the "complete" answer when it comes to funding the maintenence of local roadways. He brought up that road funding would be a topic in the Indiana General Assembly's session this year where he saw a chance for more state funding to help out county highway departments like Hostetler's.
Regardless, Wall said the extra funds will definitely have an impact on the shape of the county's roadways.
"With the extra money it's going to help us get the aggregates, the oils and the (asphalt) to get these jobs completed," Wall said.