Boone County gas tax bill lacks support from state legislators

By Bob Balgemann

REPORTER

The odds are stacked against Boone County having the ability to impose a gasoline tax for road and transportation purposes.

Members of the county board voted 12-0 on Wednesday, Jan. 18 to ask one of the state legislators representing the county to reintroduce a bill, giving Boone and DeKalb Counties authority to levy a gas tax of up to four cents per gallon.

House Bill 4368 doing just that was introduced last year and didn’t get out of committee.

With the 100th General Assembly now in session through May 31, neither state House member representing the county was enthusiastic about chances for such a bill.

State Rep. Joe Sosnowski, R-Rockford, was the first to respond to an inquiry from the Belvidere Daily Republican about the possibility of his introducing that bill.

He expressed concern about the rising cost of living and stagnant wages in this area. He encouraged the county board to seek alternative sources of revenue for its road and transportation needs.

More recently State Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Sycamore, said he had talked with Boone and DeKalb County staff and board members about his assessment of once more introducing the bill. Given that, he offered the following observations:

Legislators might agree that Boone and DeKalb Counties are struggling for road funds, but so are most other counties, townships, and the state. So, why help only those two?

The constitutional amendment approved Nov. 8 will direct some funds to counties, which were swept before. Until legislators know how much the counties will get, “we are being premature” right now.

Most legislators are afraid to talk about a tax increase. That’s why the state budget is in such a mess.

Some legislators feel there will be a capital bill after they solve the budget issue, “so we should wait.”

Nothing much has changed since the bill died in committee last year.

Bottom line is the following assessment: Reintroducing the bill would be “a futile effort.”

“As any other taxpayer in this community, I also am concerned about additional burdens on our citizens. But, I also know that due to the inept nature of things in Springfield, additional pressures have been placed on local governments,” Johnson said. “The lack of a state budget combined with a hostile business environment in Illinois by our state leaders has forced many communities in Illinois to the brink.”

What is shocking, he said, is such a tax already exists but only a few counties are allowed to implement it.

Locally, he said Boone County is doing everything it can to cut expenditures and eliminate services where possible. “Unfortunately, we have deteriorating infrastructure [roads and bridges] that desperately need help and not enough money to fix them.”

In looking at the tax, he said, yes, it would put a burden on local taxpayers. But more importantly, it would ask travelers who stop at the Genoa Road Oasis to help pay for our roads. It also is important to note that the county is not asking to implement this tax. It is asking the General Assembly for the local “ability” to do so, with a “maximum” range of “up to” four cents.

He said he appreciated Rep. Sosnowski’s wish that the county look for alternative sources of revenue.

“But that is what this is,” the chairman emphasized. “As a county, the state has limited the ways in which we can generate any revenue and, even now, during their budget discussions, they are talking about limiting our ability to generate revenue even further.”