Gregory to vote on wheel tax

Talk about it

BURKE — Residents of Gregory County have been added to the growing list of South Dakota residents considering additional funding for ailing county roads.

The county’s new wheel tax of up to $4 a wheel will be on the Nov. 2 general election ballot after petitions were submitted recently to force the matter to a public vote. County commissioners approved the tax this summer.

Ron Paulson, one of the petitioners, has a farming operation east of Fairfax and a few vehicles and trailers on which he would pay the extra tax.

He expressed concern that the maximum wheel tax rate would rise as it has in Omaha, Neb. That city’s 2011 budget includes a $15 wheel tax increase to $50, according to the Omaha World-Herald.

Primarily, he said he wanted to give county residents a chance to vote on the tax.

“I don’t like people coming up and telling me I am going to pay a tax,” Paulson said. “I figured if people want it in the county, they can vote for it.”

Gregory County is one of many counties that have recently sought new revenue sources, such as a wheel tax or an opt-out of the state property tax freeze, to pay for road repairs and maintenance.

Sanborn County voters approved a five-year, $350,000 annual opt-out this week. Aurora County Commission passed a $400,000 annual optout over five years in July.

Bon Homme and Douglas county commissioners are discussing the possibility of enacting a $4 maximum wheel tax and an opt-out, respectively, next year for 2012.

In June, voters rejected optouts in Marshall and Brown counties and a wheel-tax increase in Beadle County.

In Gregory County, 238 petition signatures were submitted by the Aug. 25 deadline, Auditor Jim Waterbury said. Petitions needed to have at least 173 signatures to refer the matter to a public vote.

The wheel tax would generate an estimated $125,000 a year for road maintenance. County officials chose to levy the maximum because they say they are short in funds.

“We have oil roads that need major repair, but we are putting it off because we don’t have the money to do it,” Waterbury said.

Steve Cassidy, Gregory County highway superintendent, estimated that 25 miles of asphalt roads are deteriorating because of bigger farm equipment and loads hauled by semi-tractors that weren’t used 30-plus years ago when roads were first paved. Cassidy calculated it would cost $6.25 million to repair those 25 miles.

Cassidy has also said the cost of highway materials has risen, taking more money out of his budget.

County Board Chairman Denny Deffenbaugh, of Herrick, said the county has been repairing washed-out roads and culverts all summer, with some of the worst damage around Ponca Creek south of Herrick and Burke and the Whetstone area.

The county also has tried to keep gravel roads in shape and patch asphalt roads.

“If they keep breaking up real bad, we might have to think about turning them back into gravel roads,” Deffenbaugh said of asphalt roads. “I’d rather drive on a good, maintained gravel road than an oil road with chuck holes.”

Deffenbaugh said he could foresee county residents having mixed feelings about the tax, noting that the owner of a four-wheeler will pay the same amount per wheel as a semi-truck owner.

“If they vote it down, we’ll have to figure out some other way,” he said, adding a state fuel tax increase would be helpful.

Waterbury anticipates that public meetings will take place to inform voters about the tax’s purpose. But meetings have yet to be scheduled.

If approved by voters, the tax would take effect Jan. 1.

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