From the Hendricks County Flyer:
After much debate, the Hendricks County Council grudgingly approved a $5 increase to the wheel and sur taxes during a special meeting Friday.
The hearing was called after a vote on increasing the wheel tax wasn't unanimous earlier this month. Any tax increase had to be approved before July 1 in order to go into effect at the beginning of next year.
The vote was 4-1, with Jay Puckett being the lone "no." Brad Whicker and Myron Anderson weren't present. Whicker voted no at the first meeting with Puckett. This time the vote didn't have to be unanimous for the measure to pass.
Eric Wathen, president of the Hendricks County Commissioners, had asked the council to raise the wheel and sur taxes from $20 per vehicle to $25. Both fund road maintenance, the wheel tax applying to personal motor vehicles and the sur tax on commercial vehicles including trailers.
Wathen asked for the tax increase because revenue from the state's gas tax has been down about 2 percent for the county since 2003. Money from the wheel tax is up almost 16 percent in that time, but the cost of asphalt has soared between 75 and 80 percent.
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Raising the wheel and sur taxes to $25 is projected to give the county an extra $414,000 annually, or about 50 percent more than what it has now for road maintenance. That's only enough to pave an extra four and a half miles. Even worse, with more than 800 miles of road to pave, this tax increase only enables the county to pave all its roads once every 67 years. Before the tax increase, it was about a 100-year cycle.
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http://flyergroup.com/local/x1395105059/County-passes-increase-to-wheel-tax
