Members of the Shawano County Executive Committee agreed Jan. 15 to a $20 annual wheel tax, $5 less than what the highway and parks committee recommended.
The proposal is expected to go to a vote at the Jan. 22 meeting of the county board.
The vehicle registration fee would only apply to vehicles weighing less than 8,000 pounds, per state law. It is estimated there are 37,350 such vehicles registered in the county, which, at $25 per vehicle, would generate $933,750.
At $20 per vehicle, revenue would total $747,000, $186,750 less than the original proposal.
Money raised from the fee would be earmarked for road and bridge projects.
“We are really hamstrung at the county, given our levy limits,” said Jim Davel, administrative coordinator. “Quite frankly, we need extra revenue.”
Supervisor Tom Kautza made the motion to reduce the fee to $20. It was seconded by Ken Capelle.
“We thought that the $40 that the city (of Shawano) did was far too high,” Davel said of the original proposal. “We thought that $25 was more than reasonable given the impact that our roads and bridges have on our community. It’s probably our most important thing that we maintain in our county.”
He said nobody likes the additional fee, but the county’s costs have gone up significantly, and the state has limits on what can be levied.
“We need additional revenue to come in just to maintain the services that we are required to perform,” Davel said.
Prior to Kautza’s motion to lower the fee, Supervisor Randy Young suggested another idea.
Young, who represents the city on the county board, said the city fee was based on 8,000 eligible vehicles. He suggested exempting the city’s 8,000 vehicles, which would leave 29,350 eligible vehicles in the county. Further, he suggested charging everyone else $40, which would raise $1,174,000.
“If you don’t like the $40, and you want to leave it at $25, that’s fine, but I think it’s only fair that we remove the city residents that are already paying the $40,” he said.
He also said that whatever rate is set, Tigerton residents, who pay a $10 annual wheel tax, would have that amount subtracted from the county fee.
Supervisor Kathy Luebke said she is completely against the wheel tax.
Many people own property in the county but live elsewhere, she said. They travel on the roads all the time but won’t have to pay the fee.
“They’re using our roads. They’re not contributing to this at all,” she said. “They’re smiling. They ruin our roads, but that’s not their problem.”
She suggested somehow adding it to the tax roll for all property owners to pay or not do it all.
Davel said that with a wheel tax, renters would also pay, not just the landlords.
“Affect what you can affect,” he said. “You can’t affect that. They already pay property tax. They drive in to see their property, but they don’t live here. They register their vehicle in a different part of the state, or out of state. Focus on what you can do, not what you want.”
Luebke said she is concerned about equity.
Young said the same equity argument holds true for exempting city residents.
“City residents use county roads. County residents use city roads,” he said. “We’re all in it together.”
Supervisor Bill Switalla, who represents the Wittenberg area, questioned how you can apply a tax only to certain residents.
“I do agree it’s not fair to Shawano (city),” he said. “I don’t agree that we can just leave Shawano out of it.”
Kautza asked what would stop every municipality from adopting their own wheel tax and keeping all the revenue for themselves. Then, the county gets nothing.
“We can’t start picking and choosing,” he said.
Last year, the county repaved 9.6 miles of roads. This year, 8.6 miles are budgeted, Davel said.
Most likely, there would be no additional money for roads and bridges. Some of the money normally used for roads and bridges would be relocated to other departments.
“The bottom line here is highway’s probably going to get the same amount of money, but it’s going to be less contribution from the budget (general fund),” Switalla said.
Kautza, Capelle, Luebke and Tess Serrano voted in favor of reducing the fee to $20. Switalla and Young opposed that amendment.
On the final, amended motion that would establish the wheel tax and set it at $20, Kautza, Capelle, Switalla and Serrano voted in favor, with Luebke and Young opposing.
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