By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green may boost its road paving budget by bumping up the motor vehicle license tax by $5.
City Council will have a third reading and vote on the ordinance at next Monday’s meeting.
Like many municipalities, Bowling Green has seen revenue for roads stall, while expenses continue to increase.
“Those revenue sources have been flat over the last decade,” Assistant Municipal Administrator Joe Fawcett said.
The city’s paving funds come from state collected gas tax and vehicle license taxes. Adding to the funding difficulties is the increasing number of fuel efficient vehicles on the road that cause the revenue derived from the gas tax to decline.
The state transportation budget now allows cities to charge an additional $5 tax for vehicle licenses.
In Bowling Green, that would generate an estimated $96,000 annually dedicated to roads.
Bowling Green city administration is recommending that council levy the license tax.
“It has been so many years since the city has seen an increase in funding for roads, and keeping up with the paving of surface streets has become a significant challenge,” city officials wrote in the recommendation for the ordinance.
Bowling Green currently gets 40 percent of the state’s 28-cent gas tax. That added up to $619,910 last year. A portion of this amount pays for costs associated with the overall operation of street maintenance – employee salaries, traffic signal maintenance, traffic signs, striping, vehicle maintenance and more.
The state increased the overall gas tax amount by 10.5 cents – to a total of 38.5 cents – along with the percentage allocated to local governments, from 40 to 45 percent. The net increase is estimated to bring in an additional $423,566 – all of which will be dedicated to infrastructure.
The Wood County Commissioners already acted to increase the license fee by $5 last year.
“They recognized the stagnant funding of local transportation systems and that counties were struggling to keep up with the need for bridge replacements and road repair,” Wood County Engineer Musteric said last year as the county considered the tax.
The proposed $5 increase is projected to bring in an additional $632,660 annually for road and bridge repairs. Musteric pledged to the commissioners that the additional funds would be used only on capital expenses, not on personnel or operating costs.
Currently the state registration fee is $34.50, and the local permissive fees are between $15 and $20, depending on the community.
“Our revenues have been stagnant,” Musteric said.
Meanwhile, the cost of building and maintaining roads has continued to grow. Since the last state gas tax increase, the cost of asphalt has jumped 58 percent, steel has increased 35 percent, concrete has gone up 10 percent, and road paint has jumped 38 percent, according to the county engineer’s office.
