During Monday’s Santa Rosa County Board of CountyCommissioners budget workshop, the commissioners looked again at what raising the gas tax could do for the county budget. SRC Administrator Hunter Walker opened the workshop with previously presented material including available gas tax options, a comparison of gas taxes in the neighboring counties, and major street resurfacing needs for the next five years. Debate between commissioners focused on the use of the potential tax. No commissioner spoke outright against increasing the gas tax and only Commissioner Bob Cole had any caveats on implementing the plan.
Walker argued the need for the gas tax based on several past budget cuts, project postponements, and road and drainage capital projects not receiving any funding. Walker said, “I recognize we’re not bankers, but at some point you’ve got to take care of your capital needs.”
Walker also said the return of the Small County Outreach Program funding was questionable. While the program specifically aids small counties’ road and bridge needs, Commission Chairman Don Salter has, in the recent past, downplayed the then $1.2 million in SCOP funds. In April of this year, the Press Gazette reported Salter said, “We were going to be in trouble even if that grant program had not been discontinued so we were going to have to try to find some additional revenue.”
After Walker presented on gas tax options and where the county stands in project needs and current tax level, Commissioner Bob Cole said, “I’m only for the gas tax option if it means increasing our capacity of resurfacing our roads…We’ve had tougher budgets in tougher times.” He agreed now is the moment to look at how to improve the county’s budget and quoted Commissioner Lane Lynchard saying, “We need to keep moving our county forward.” In brief, Cole’s suggestion was to use roughly $3 million in reserves to balance the budget and in March move forward with a one-cent sales tax and a menu of projects the citizens could see.
Salter said, “I’ve often said if you kick that can down the road, it’ll start to roll back down the hill.” Salter echoed a budget example Walker brought forward of paying for employee raises with reserve funds, a recurring cost paid with nonrecurring funds. “And then we did the same thing with road and bridge funds, taking $750,000 out of those reserves. Those things are catching up to us.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum was Commissioner Jayer Williamson. He said, “The only way I can see voting for a tax increase is if we are going to shore up some general fund revenue,” referring to using gas tax funds to deal with general fund shortfalls. At this point, Cole relented slightly saying “I would have to see where we’re taking from here and putting to there.” He said as long as a majority of gas tax funds are going to new construction and new road paving he wouldn’t demand every penny go into those projects.
Before the end of the meeting, Public Works Director Stephen Furman said before 2007 budget cut the road and bridge department used to pave over $2 million worth of roads a year.
“I’m extremely confident that we can resurface more than $2 million worth of roads a year. Anything that you all can do to get us the money to help the citizens is something that will be a show of what they’re giving with that gas tax, and we can put up signage on every road we’re resurfacing that says ‘your local option gas tax at work.’ I think within a year after receiving this money there are going to be a lot of people on our worst roads…that will see a tremendous improvement in the quality of their roadways,” Furman said.
According to Salter, citizens can expect to see the gas tax issue come before the board Thursday at the commission regular meeting.
Keep up with the Santa Rosa Press Gazette to read where the county goes next in considering this tax.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: SRC Commissioners debate gas tax usage