Carson City Board of Supervisors votes to approve diesel tax to help 'woeful' roads

During the Carson City Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday, the board passed an ordinance 4-1 after much discussion regarding implementing a 5 cent diesel tax which would go to helping the capital city's roads.

There is a similar gasoline tax implemented already, which goes toward the road budget, according to staff, but the diesel taxes in place have no distribution in Carson City, but are sent upwards to the state and federal levels.

The 5 cent tax will generate revenue of approximately $400,000. It was part of Nevada Legislative Senate Bill 48 that passed, which authorized an additional 1 to 5 cent per gallon tax on diesel fuel which could be imposed on rural Nevada counties including Carson City.

This amount, however, will barely make a dent in the deficient roads budget, according to City Manager Nancy Paulson. The roads budget is currently experiencing a 15 million dollar deficit, with no solution in site.

"While these proceeds don't come close to filling the deficit gap, it would cover approximately ten percent of the budget," said Paulson.

"This is a positive step forward to try and generate revenue to try and fill the gap," said Supervisor Brad Bonkowski.

Bonkowski also discussed the fact that while he had received phone calls from his constituents asking that the taxes not be implemented, he noted that these calls came from the same people who call asking the roads to be fixed.

Bonkowksi suggested that the ordinance should be implemented with a 3-5 year sunset, and voters could then decide whether or not to keep it.

Supervisor Lori Bagwell was staunchly against the ordinance, and reasoned that because two-thirds of the public had already voted the tax down, she could not in good conscience vote in contrary to them.

She did note, however, that the public have a responsibility to pay for the roads to be fixed, and if they say no to the taxes that could fill the gap, then it told her they did not feel fixing the roads was a priority.

Supervisor John Barrett wanted the tax implemented with no sunset, because the situation of the roads in Carson City is so dire and 'woeful' that it deserves bonding.

"Think where we will be 20 years from now if we continue to be 75 percent behind in the budget," said Barrett. "I don't like sunsets, we need to bond, and we need to fix our roads."

Mayor Bob Crowell stated that he didn't feel it was fair that while both diesel drivers and gasoline drivers both pay taxes, the diesel drivers aren't having to a pay a tax that would benefit Carson City, and it is an inequity that should be fixed.

"I think it's up to this board to do something for the roads," said Crowell.

Transportation Manager Lucia Maloney answered questions from the board, and commented on the fact that while $400,000 will help the budget, it will not solve all of the city's road problems.

"The disparity will not be fixed by this action," said Maloney. "It costs approximately one million dollars to reconstruct one mile. $400,000 will reconstruct a couple of blocks."

Maloney suggested that instead, the money could be more meaningful if it was spent on road maintenance such as shoulder grading and crack filling.

Maloney also made the point that the roads are so expensive to fix that even if the department budgeted for one road per year, they would still fall short.

"Lompa needs to be reconstructed," said Maloney. "At the current rate, it won't be reconstructed because that one road costs more than our annual budget (to reconstruct). If that's all we (budgeted for) for the entire year, we still couldn't afford it."

Before the board came to a vote, Barrett added, "These sunsets will come back to bite everyone and I don't like them."

The Board voted 4-1 and passed the ordinance with Lori Bagwell voting no. The ordinance will be implemented to include a 5 cent diesel tax which will be directed to fix the roads, with a sunset on the ordinance. In 2022, the question will be placed on the ballot as to whether or not the tax should continue once the public has time to see how it affects — or fails to affect — the community.