Residents oppose state ‘bullying’ over road funds

A handful of Wayne County residents stressed two points during Wayne County Council’s Aug. 6 public hearing about local option highway user taxes: Don’t be bullied by the state legislature, and don’t enact new taxes.

The state legislature has changed the way counties and municipalities will receive highway and bridge funding by reducing the amount available for matching grants and creating a pot of money that will be awarded based on lane miles. To be eligible for lane-mile money, however, the entity must have enacted the optional taxes, better known as the wheel tax. 

Accessing that lane-mile money led council to consider the two LOHUTs that must be enacted together: an excise tax surcharge for passenger vehicles, motorcycles, mopeds, collector vehicles and small trucks, and a wheel tax for large trucks and trailers, buses and RVs. The taxes would be collected by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles each year when vehicles are registered, and owners pay the registration fee and excise tax.

“None of us sitting here today as your county council wants to enact this tax,” said Max Smith, the council president this year. “However, the state of Indiana has put us in a position that we have no choice but to enact this option for the future of Wayne County.”

When advertising the public hearing, council presented an ordinance that contained a flat $50 excise surcharge and an $80 wheel tax. Since then, however, council has switched to another option, charging a percentage of the excise tax with a minimum $7.50 payment for the surcharge and maintaining the $80 wheel tax fee. 

Smith said the percentage has less of an impact on residents who have older, less-expensive vehicles — those who can least afford it. With the minimum 2% charge, most vehicles would cost $7.50. New vehicles costing $15,000 or more would have higher payments scaled to $21.26 for those costing more than $42,500. The surcharge payment for newer vehicles would be more than the $7.50 from one to seven years, depending on the purchase prices.

That version of the ordinance has been advertised for public hearing at 6 p.m. Aug. 20 in the Wayne County Administration Building chambers, 401 E. Main St., Richmond.

Ron Cross, the county attorney, informed council it could only vote Aug. 6 on the flat fee ordinance. Council unanimously defeated that ordinance, then tabled discussion about the ordinance containing a percentage payment until Aug. 20. A vote that day to enact the taxes must be unanimous; otherwise, council will again conduct a public hearing at 6 p.m. Aug. 25, when the vote must just be a majority.

“We don’t have a bunch of extra money floating around that we just spend frivolously,” said council member Beth Leisure. “It’s not an easy decision.”

Brandon Sanders, the county engineer, and Mike Sharp, the county highway supervisor, presented information about rising costs and shortfalls the county would face when maintaining roads and bridges without the LOHUT and lane-mile money. The bridge shortfall would be about $2 million per year, and the highway shortfall would be about $2.5 million.

They estimated the county would receive $240,507 if it implements minimum LOHUT rates and $1,722,421 if it implements maximum rates. The county then would receive at least $1.5 million when the state initiates lane-mile payments in 2027. Wayne County’s 1,370 lane miles are less than 1% of the state’s total.

The county’s LOHUT revenues would be just 48% of the amount collected. Richmond and the county’s towns would share the revenues, with Richmond receiving 40%. Council member Gary Saunders said it’s important for council to help the smaller communities.

Because it has more than 5,000 residents, the city also is eligible to enact the LOHUT taxes, and city residents would pay both the county and city rates. Mayor Ron Oler said he favored the county enacting the maximum LOHUT amounts. If that occurs, he would not seek city LOHUT taxes, because the city would be receiving about $1.5 million to offset its own street funding shortages.

Larry Parker, president of Richmond Common Council, said after council’s Aug. 4 meeting that he did not expect council would consider LOHUT taxes or a food and beverage tax this year. The state legislature passed legislation this year — at the city’s request — that enables Richmond to adopt a food and beverage tax.

Jeff Plasterer, president of Wayne County’s commissioners, spoke in favor of council adopting LOHUT taxes. He noted that the legislature has made clear that it will not provide additional dollars if local governments have not taken advantage of provided tools, such as the LOHUT taxes. Commissioner Brad Dwenger, however, urged council to wait until next year before deciding about LOHUT. He said the legislature will tweak its actions from this year, and the county hasn’t completed its 2026 budgeting process yet.

“Let’s tighten our belt first before we ask taxpayers to pay more,” Dwenger said.

Bradley Wood of Greens Fork said LOHUT taxes target farmers with their trucks and trailers. He advocated standing up to state legislators now so they are less likely to force the county again into future taxes.

“Wayne County should not be strong-armed into taxing our residents just to qualify for state funding that we’ve already helped pay into,” said Wood, adding the state’s actions are coercion, not collaboration. “We’re not against safe roads or responsible infrastructure spending, but we are against being rushed or bullied into another tax burden, especially in a year when families are already being squeezed by our property taxes and the increased costs of living.”

Mary Chaney said she’s opposed to being blackmailed and that a tax would hurt her and other senior citizens on fixed incomes.

“I’m opposed to it,” she said. “I’m tired of being taxed, taxed, taxed, and the one thing I can do is vote.”

Larry Bennett, owner of B&B Lawncare, opposed LOHUT taxes as a strain on families and small businesses. He also advocated waiting six months to see how the legislature acts during its 2026 session, saying there’s got to be a better way to find revenue than being strong-armed.

“To put another tax on us, I feel, at this time is not right,” Bennett said.

Larry Hutchison said he opposes any tax because government should live within its means like families do.

“In essence, what you’re saying is that this governor is holding every person in the state hostage, and they’re going to continue to drain my billfold and your billfolds of money,” Hutchison said. “What’s going to be the next tax that comes up?”

Other issues

• Mary Walker, executive director of the Wayne County Convention and Tourism Bureau, presented council with her 2026 budget of $1,213,230, keeping it the same as 2025. The bureau’s funding comes from an innkeeper’s tax.
• Valerie Shaffer, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County, presented the EDC’s 2026 budget of $829,312.52, which is an increase of $26,339. The EDC is funded by community contributions to the county’s consolidated economic development income tax fund.
• Council approved paying $74,074.09 to install VHF equipment to new emergency radio towers as a backup system. It also returned a $50,000 contingency fund to the radio tower project budget. The money for both will come from general fund money set aside when American Rescue Plan Act dollars were used for general fund expenses.