County Commissioners passed a five-cent per gallon diesel tax at their meeting this week, which will go into effect February 1, 2021. The tax can only be used on roads and bridges throughout the county and will be distributed by formula through the Regional Transportation Commission to both the City of Fallon and the county. The commission previously adopted a business impact statement finding no significant impact on businesses. Vehicles and equipment using red dye diesel will be exempt from the tax
Kip McCoy, a resident from Churchill County spoke during public comment on the issue, asking commissioners, “Why are we doing this tax and how long will it run.”
Chairman Pete Olsen explained that the gas tax, once implemented will not sunset. He said that the gas tax has been flat for ten years and there currently is no diesel tax. Anyone driving a vehicle running diesel has not been contributing to the maintenance of community roads. “The fuel tax is not pegged to inflation like equipment and the other costs of maintaining road,” said Olsen. “Right now, diesel pays nothing toward maintaining county roads and no one has paid anything toward inflation for the past ten years.”
Also during public comment, Geoff Knell, a resident of the city chastised commissioners for trying to implement the tax saying, “I’m going to make you accountable,” said Knell, “What you are doing today, I don’t want you to do. The expenditures being presented in my opinion are totally uncontrollable, people are suffering and you are going to hurt businesses.”
Incidentally, Knell attended several City of Fallon council meeting over this summer, asking the city to install a stop sign at an intersection near his home. The city did recently install the stop sign, expending revenues for a traffic study and staff time, as well as the equipment needs for the sign.
Gary Fowkes is the county road supervisor and he said, “I don’t like taxes any more than anyone else, I have two diesel trucks so this will cost me about $30 a piece for this nickel, but it's going to help us do about 50% more work.”
The road department expends roughly $400,000 a year on repair supplies, completing seven to ten miles of road a year. This tax will allow the department to expand their maintenance program. According to Fowkes there are a total of 250 miles of paved and 250 of gravel roads. “To do the maintenance on just our equipment is about $100,000 a year. We need the money,” he said.
Commissioner Carl Erquiaga said that as long as he has been on the commission, for the past 12 years, “We have not adjusted any highway taxes at all in the past 12 years and haven’t raised property tax either…If you do simple math, for a diesel pickup, this nickel will cost you seven bucks a month.”
Although several people have told Erquiaga that they will just drive to surrounding communities where the fuel prices are cheaper, “That’s false economy, you spend six gallons driving to Carson to fill your tank when that six gallons here would have cost you 30 cents. If someone has a better idea of where we can get the money to maintain our roads…”
Olsen pointed out that the legislation authorized the implementation of this tax a year ago. The tax was authorized by the legislature during the 2019 session and so far, six counties have implemented the tax in their communities, including Lyon and Carson. Churchill County anticipates receiving approximately $300,000 in additional revenue from the $.05 tax.
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