INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — The debate over how to pay for road repairs in Indianapolis moved one step closer to a final decision on Tuesday night.
An Indianapolis City-County Council committee voted 7-3 to recommend approval of a proposal that would increase vehicle registration-related taxes in Marion County.
Some councilors said the proposal would be the best way to secure money for road improvements.
But some people at the committee meeting questioned whether they should be asked to pay when they're already feeling financial pressure. One said, "There's a lot of concerns out with this; there's just too much all at once. Utility costs, everything's going crazy, so we should not have a total eclipse of the wallet."
Another person testified, "I have to have a 'Mad Max' vehicle just to drive on the roads. So, I'm just asking that you look at another way to fund this instead of raising our taxes."
Under the proposal, most Marion County drivers with vehicles under 11,000 pounds would pay a flat $100 annual fee when registering their vehicles. Larger vehicles would be subject to the county wheel tax with a flat annual fee of $240.
The council hopes to raise $50 million, which would make it eligible to receive $50 million in state funding.
The match amount would increase each year incrementally.
Democratic Councilor Andy Nielsen said, "We'd love to see other ideas and other plans for how we do that. The entire city council and administration has known that this $50 million opportunity has been sitting on the books, and we're the first ones to actually put forward a plan to actually get there."
Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett has disagreed with the proposal.
If the City-County Council passes the tax hike at its next hearing, he could veto it.
Council President Maggie Lewis, another Democrat, said of the mayor in his third four-year term, "He has not vetoed anything we put forth since he's been the mayor of our great city, so not sure exactly how to read that, but again, he does have that ability to do so."
Some on the council argued that if no action was taken on the wheel tax, the city would still need to manage a large transportation network, risk losing new state funding, and face higher long-term maintenance costs.
Lewis said, "At the end of the day, our colleagues believe this is the right path to ensure our infrastructure is what we deserve as the capitalist state of Indiana."
The proposal goes to the full council for a vote on July 6. If approved, the new taxes would take effect Jan. 1.
