Fairhope, Alabama
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| Fairhope Walmart. |
FOR ROAD MAINTENANCE/CONSTRUCTION ONLY
The city council debated the pros and cons of enacting a gasoline tax, to go for road maintenance and construction.
Treasurer Creech said Fairhope is currently the only city is the county without one, except for Perdido which has no gas station. Baldwin County has the tax too.
Road paving cost this year is over $900K and will be $1.5 million next year, which comes from impact fees and other sources now. Those impact fees could go to sidewalks, drainage and other pressing needs.
A 2-cent per gallon tax, restricted to road projects only under a new Alabama law, could generate about $400K here, she estimated.
(Daphne, Silverhill, and Spanish Fort current charge one cent; Foley and Loxley 3 cents.)
COUNCIL UNDECIDED
Most council members expressed neutrality at this point except for Martin who said he favored the tax, to make much needed road improvements around town. He also mentioned the long-standing need for a new road at the airport to facilitate long-stalled sale/development of west side property: the city still subsidizes the 2007 purchase of that land for the airport authority ($300K per year debt service).
Councilman Boone said he could argue for or against; Robinson said he saw the need for more revenue for road projects, but remained unsure.
Conyers and Burrell were non-committal as well.
Robinson asked the rhetorical question: "Could we just charge it ... on out of towners?"
Creech was directed to gather more data about the potential revenue for a upcoming meeting.
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| County gas taxes. |
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| Enabling law. |
Comments
However, developers should cover costs of infrastructure impacted by subdivision construction, including roads.
The sales tax cut of 1 cent is a drop in the bucket to each consumer. The funds should have been Re-directed to local streets and roads.
Better, though, is to dramatically increase impact fees on new development. Doing so will slow our runaway growth and help our infrastructure accommodate the inevitable growth to come.
Additionally, we should be aggressively taxing all overnight stays (hotels, VRBO, etc.), before we ask locals for more.
Finally, and this is not an idea that often occurs to government officials, where can we cut fat from the budget? Until we are running as lean as can be, don't ask us for more money. Taxes never go away; the multiply and compound. Let's not California Fairhope.