Jamie Hawkins of Evansville is closing the hard saddlebag of his all-black 2018 Harley Street Glide during Bikes on Main, in downtown Evansville Monday night. His was one of dozens in a line.
The City Council had just passed the new wheel tax — which includes a new fee for motorcycles. He said he doesn’t mind the $10 when he registers, if it means safer roads. “I’m wiling to pay my fair share,” he said.
Earlier this month the city announced they were pursuing a wheel tax, to help bridge a projected $15 million shortfall over three years, due to state cuts to property taxes.
After nearly 80-minutes of discussion and public comment, City Council Finance Chair Mary Allen proposed reducing the fees by $5 dollars across the board.
Now the extra fee to register a passenger vehicle will be $20, motorcycles $10, and heavy vehicles $30.
Council member Angela Koehler Lindsey cast the sole dissenting vote to pass the tax overall.
“I'm gonna say I'm just really struggling with this,” she said. “I've got a lot of people that are telling me, ‘we got CenterPoint. We've got water bills up.’ You know, $25 is just too much. It's just too much. We just don't want to do another tax.”
She's referring to increases in the city water bill, and increases in electrical rates that just came into effect.
The city council and administration made the case prior to the vote, that due to state property tax cuts and changes to road funding, they didn’t have a choice but to impose the tax.
It will also make more state funding available. This was also discussed at the ordinance's first reading.
In public comment resident Sam Dickenson said the public should have an elected voice in the street department.
“So that if we the citizens feel that the money is not being used responsibly, we the people have a right to replace that person with someone else that we believe would use that money properly.”
Other public comments suggested more detailed and stringent work agreements with contractors to protect the city from shoddy work.
Others were concerned the new tax would also cause businesses to pass the cost onto their customers.
Council Member Zach Heronemus said this tax is needed due to a lack of “upstream investment” over prior years.
“If we can't get upstream today, our kids and our grandkids are going to be paying that much more, just like the what we're having to face right now because the lack of upstream investments decades ago.”
This tax will capture an estimated $2.2 million annually.
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