County Revisits Wheel TaxJust 11 people attended and spoke at the Kosciusko County Council’s listening session on the wheel tax Thursday evening.
From their comments came two general points: The first was that the Amish community needed to pay their fair share of the wheel tax to fix roads. The second was that some roads weren’t getting fixed despite the wheel tax being in place for five years.
The council didn’t take any action on the wheel tax Thursday. It will consider the comments and the recommendation from its wheel tax committee at its July 11 meeting. Any action the council takes then won’t go into effect until 2020. At the May council meeting, a recommendation to increase some county wheel taxes and decrease others was presented from the wheel tax committee.
A two-sided informational sheet on the facts of the wheel tax was provided to the public by the county. It contained the proposed tax increases, how much each municipality in the county received from the tax and other information.
Mark Nuell said, “Something that I would like to see addressed is, and I want to go on record that I’m not circling out the Amish, but I would like to know what the county’s position is on ... the Amish right now are buying tractors and they are in the construction business ... they are pulling their construction trailers on public road behind this tractor. And with a slow-moving vehicle sign.”
In comparison, he said if he was in business for himself, driving a pickup, it would be his responsibility to license the truck and trailer. “If I decided I wanted to be like the Amish and treated like the Amish, I’d buy myself a tractor and pull it down the road with a slow-moving vehicle sign,” Nuell said.
He said the Amish were “pushing right to the line because they’re using our public roads for a personal business.”
And when the Amish go on leisure trips, Nuell said they pull a bass boat or pontoon with a slow-moving vehicle sign on the trailer and no plates. He said everyone should have a level-playing field.
Horse-drawn buggies can not be charged the wheel or excise taxes, according to the county’s information. Kosciusko County Commissioners established the sale of horse-drawn buggy plates years ago. The current cost is $35 per buggy, which collects over $29,000 per year.
After the meeting, County Commissioner Cary Groninger said, “We are looking into that. Our county attorney is looking into that. We’re hoping to have some sort of a new updated ordinance probably in the next month or so brought before the commissioners.”
Arlen Mullet, who lives on CR 1350, told the council, “I have not seen a very significant improvement in the roads that are close to my house since the wheel tax was introduced years ago.” He suggested that the county should “button up its purse a little bit” instead of increasing the wheel tax.
County Councilwoman Joni Truex told him that if there are holes in his road he should report them to the highway department.
Next up was Dewey Patterson, who asked the council to consider giving historical vehicles a break on the wheel tax as insurance companies restrict them to so many miles a year anyway. A historical vehicle is at least 25 years old. County attorney Mike Miner said state statue doesn’t allow for an exception for historical vehicles.
Tricia LeCount said she didn’t understand why the tax was so high. “I just want to try to impress upon each one of you that it does, for working middle class people, it does put a hardship on people. It just does,” she said.
Motorcycle rider Johnny Butler said, “Over the years I can remember, when I was first riding, county roads were usually in a good condition. They were usually taken care of. And as time has gone on, as we all know, roads have broken down and are not in great condition.”
He said he understands why there is a wheel tax, but he had several concerns. The first was that a motorcycle uses less road than other vehicles and put less wear-and-tear on the roads but they’re still charged the same tax. Butler asked that motorcycles be assessed a lower rate.
On trailers, flat fees “just don’t seem to make sense” for people who use their trailers for lightweight usage versus others who use trailers for “heavier” purposes.
Butler expressed a concern that county roads used to have a life of 20 years, but they don’t last that long now. “In the last couple of years, you’ve only done 20 miles of hot mix asphalt? That to me barely gets anything replaced,” he said.
His final point was that chip and seal was bad for motorcyclists as it doesn’t hold up, wears off and makes for slippery conditions.
State Rep. Dave Wolkins thanked the council for addressing the issue and said, “I would have to say in all my years, 95% of the complaints I’ve had about Kosciusko County government has been that lousy wheel tax on two-wheel boats, the boat trailers and everything else. I appreciate the fact that you are doing that.”
He said the wheel tax needs to be based on “who is doing the most damage. And you’re doing that.” Wolkins said motorcycles don’t do a whole lot of damage, nor do the farm semi trucks which are “used basically during the fall.”
Wolkins said when the state raised the gas tax it doubled it on trucks because “a loaded 60,000-pound axle on a truck does 10,000 times damage as one car. That will be the highest. You’re heading in the right direction. I appreciate the fact you’re addressing it and you’re doing it the right way.”
Warsaw City Council Democrat candidate Roxanne Coffelt said she’s been meeting with people in her district. When she asks them what their main concern about the city was, she said “almost everybody immediately says the streets.”
In 2018, county highway received over $1.9 million from the wheel tax. The city of Warsaw received $353,547.08, while the town of Sidney got the lowest of any town at $2,666.28.
Robert Edling said, “As far as the wheel tax is concerned, my opinion is, definitely not an increase in the wheel tax. We pay enough as it is. People of Kosciusko County, we’re taxed enough. It’s getting out of hand.”
He said Kosciusko County “already pays the highest taxes in just about any county around here, especially if you live in Warsaw, you’re taxed even more.” Councilwoman Kim Cates later told him that wasn’t true as Kosciusko County has one of the lowest taxes per person in the state comparatively.
Ron Anglin said the Amish weren’t being burdened by the roads like the rest of the population. He said the Amish were growing, spreading out and “tearing our roads up.”
Former county councilman Jim Moyer said the county has met or exceeded everything it told the public when it originally passed the wheel tax. Secondly, he said, the county should reach out to the Amish with regard to buggy tax information because they don’t always get to meetings.
Council President Sue Ann Mitchell concluded the hearing by reading emails on the tax from people who couldn’t attend.
Reflecting on the hearing afterward, Mitchell said, “I’m very impressed that we had a few people that did come in to speak, and I appreciate their input ‘cause we did get some things that were not necessarily what we would have expected, and I hope the wheel tax committee will take a look at this and report back to us at July 11 at our regular council meeting so that we can start to move forward with this. Input tonight was great and greatly appreciated.”
