Monticello council vote for wheel/ excise surtax ends in ties

MONTICELLO — On Monday night, with one council member absent from the five member board, the city council failed to pass their proposed wheel/license excise surtax. At their last meeting in November, the council chose to $7.50 for the surtax and $25 for the wheel tax, which applies to heavier vehicles like semis and RVs.

At Monday night’s meeting, councilman Tim McQuinn said those amounts would bring the city about $44,000 and he would like to see the tax bring in closer to $100,000 especially if the city will have to fund more of their road projects.

Earlier in the year, the state legislators lowered the amount of funds available for INDOT’s Community Crossing grants while also adding an incentive for counties and cities with a population of 5,000 or more an opportunity to adopt the additional tax on vehicles registered in their communities. If the tax was adopted by the first of September, the local government could begin receiving the money next year. If adopted by Sept. 1, 2026, they will start receiving the additional funds in 2027.

The county council is still undecided in which way they want to go with this tax they feel is being imposed on them by the state government. The city council also expressed the opinion that the state has put them in a tough position, to decide how they will afford to fix roads in the future without the grants.

Frank Arthur, street superintendent said the state wants local governments to have more input into the funding of their streets and roads while cutting back on the grants. He said the Community Crossing grants will help but they also have to help themselves. He explained if the tax is adopted, the city could get a “lane mile direct distribution.” He didn’t have the numbers with him at the meeting but said they would receive a certain figure per mile to be distributed in 2027 for those counties and municipalities that adopt the tax.

He had announced earlier in the meeting the city was not awarded a Community Crossing grant for next year and it has been about 10 years since it was not awarded a grant at all. Over the last three years, he estimated the city received $3 million in grant funding. The grants are a 80/20 split between INDOT and the county, city or town.

He said $100,000 would go further than $44,000 but he would not say no to either. “I will go with whatever you agree with,” he told the council.

Arthur said the days of receiving the grants every year are gone and they could probably expect to get them every three to four years in the future.

Cheever said they’ve been fortunate to receive the grants over the last 10 years. When the tax was first proposed, he said he did not want to add any more taxes to the city’s residents. Then he said he thought if they have to do this, then adopt the minimum amounts allowed by the state. The proposed amounts of $7.50 and $25 were his third “favorite” choice, and that’s “as far as I’m going to go.”

McQuinn proposed upping the license excise surtax to $15.30 and the wheel tax to $40 to bring the city’s funding up to the $100,000 mark. Councilman Dave Patty said he would second the motion because the tax is a once a year payment and it “won’t hurt that bad.”

Cheever argued if the county comes in with its own tax numbers, city residents could be paying twice the amount or more each year, depending on what rates the county would choose.

After the vote for the McQuinn proposal ended with he and Patty voting “aye” and Gary Allen and Cheever voting “nay,” city attorney George Loy advised the board the mayor could vote to end the tie or they could wait for a full council to vote again.

Allen motioned to adopt the numbers proposed at the first reading of the ordinance as Cheever had explained with Cheever adding a second to the motion. In this vote the ayes and nays were reversed and still ended in a tie. After some discussion amongst themselves, City Clerk Shanda Cortez asked Mayor Aaron Sims for a vote. He said, “I will pass it,” which she took to mean he was voting in favor. There was some confusion as to what he meant. He, however, said he would pass on voting.

The next meeting will be Dec. 15, at 6 p.m. following the city’s Board of Works meeting. The tax will once again go before the board with the assumption all five of the board members will be present.