County staff seeks gas tax hike again

By Steve Estes

The Monroe Board of County Commissioners Wednesday will consider adding six cents to the price of a gallon of gasoline in fuel taxes.

The additional gas tax is necessary, according to the staff report, because the county’s road and bridge repair fund is nearly depleted.

Staff tried unsuccessfully last year to get the BOCC to approve a hike in the gas tax, but three commissioners were running for reelection and the effort was shunted aside.

The new tax will be in the form of a five-cent local option gas tax, bringing the county’s gas tax to 11 cents on every gallon, and a one-cent fuel tax that is added on every gallon of petroleum products, bringing the total to nine cents in constitutional gas taxes.

The ninth cent is expected to raise an additional $500,000 per year for road and bridge repair and maintenance, while each penny of the gas tax brings the county about $250,000 or $1.25 million yearly.

The county’s road and bridge fund covers maintenance, engineering costs, street lights and traffic signal maintenance and costs, as well as the capital projects outlined in the seven-year road plan.

The county hasn’t had a seven-year road plan in about three years because the staff realized about four years ago that the funding wouldn’t support major repaving or bridge work after last year. And estimates say it will be another 10 years before there is working capital again to do any major work.

“The cost of asphalt and concrete keep going up, and the cost of repaving keeps going up,” said Public Works Director Dent Pierce. “Without additional revenues, we won’t be able to do any major road work. Our roads and bridges will begin to show signs of wear.”

The county this year was served with notice by the state Department of Transportation that the bridge over Palm Drive in Baypoint had reached a state of deterioration where immediate action was necessary. County staff used reserve funds to cover those costs, leaving just over $3 million in the reserve coffers.

Last year, the county was notified that No Name Key Bridge needed some deck and pylon work. Neither bridge had reached a level where weight limits had to be reduced or safety of the motoring public was at risk. But there wasn’t enough money in the fund to cover either of those jobs.

County Engineer Dave Koppel, who will be leaving county employ next month as part of the closing of the engineering department, told commissioners last month that many of the county bridges were nearing the end of their anticipated life spans and would soon require maintenance.

He estimated that if all the work needed was actually done, the county would need about $100 million to finish the job. All of US 1 is maintained by the state, but Monroe County has 389 miles of road and 28 bridges of its own to maintain.

“Adding taxes is really the last thing I think any of us want to do,” said District One Commissioner Kim Wigington. “But when faced with the alternatives, it may be the only decision we can prudently make.”

Wigington said her fear is that if the commission doesn’t add the extra gas taxes, it may have to start assessing property owners for road and bridge work.

Some areas already perform road repair by assessment, with each property owner living along the stretch of road assessed their pro rata share of the cost of the work.

“There is no way I want to assess property owners,” said Wigington. “We only have $150,000 left in the road and bridge fund, and it will take millions to keep up, especially when we consider the bridges that are nearing the end of their anticipated useful life.”

Wigington said that the new levy may add about $1 to the price of a tank of gas for most residents, “But it’s a small price to pay to avoid property assessments.”

The new tax won’t take effect until January 1, 2010, and will run for 30 years unless the BOCC rescinds the action before that. Part of the money will be split with the municipalities unless the county also rescinds interlocal agreements it has with each to give them a share of fuel taxes.

Wigington believes there will be millions to be spent on road work in the next year or two, particularly in some areas that haven’t yet risen above the radar screen.

“I was called about the bridge on Geiger Key and when our staff went out, they told me that the bridge was going to need some work very soon. It’s safe, and none of the work needed affects safety, but we have to start looking more closely at the inspections,” she said.

One of the factors that make a gas tax more palatable than a property assessment, said Wigington, is that estimates show visitors pay about half of the county’s gas tax.