Hundreds watch as Portage enacts wheel tax
Michael Gonzalez
Post-Tribune
May 05, 2016 - 11:34AM
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-portage-wheel-tax-ok-st-0506-20160505-story.html
Portage motorists and vehicle owners will pay a new wheel tax when they register their vehicles beginning in January.
Before a packed house in the Portage High School auditorium, the city council on Wednesday approved the controversial wheel and excise tax ordinance 4-3. As expected, Council members Collin Czilli, D-5th, Scott Williams, D-3rd, and Sue Lynch, D-at large, voted against the ordinance.
Last week, the three held a press conference on the steps of City Hall opposing the tax and asking fellow council members to consider alternatives.
Council members Elizabeth Modesto, D-1st, Patrick Clem, D-2nd, John Cannon, R-4th, and Council President Mark Oprisko, D- at large, voted for the measure.
"For generations, roads are going to get paved. It's not going to get passed on to the next mayor or the next city council," Mayor James Snyder said. "Since day one, when I was elected, we've made hard decisions. We've been fixing everything, and this is going to allow us to keep going in this direction."
Since Portage began its contentious discussions on the wheel tax, Merrillville and Crown Point have begun considering similar measures.
Written by Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham in March, and pushed by Snyder and Oprisko, the vehicle tax will charge $25 a year for passenger vehicles, $12.50 for motorcycles, recreational vehicles and trailers and $40 for semitrailers, buses and large trucks.
An earlier version of the ordinance would have charged $40 for motorcycles, RVs and trailers.
Snyder insisted the estimated $750,000 generated by the wheel tax was the only available way the city could compete for a dollar-for-dollar grant from a new, competitive state grant. If Portage lands the matching funds, it could mean $1.5 million for infrastructure improvements.
Czilli, Lynch and Williams continued to insist the city could use its one-time distribution of more than $954,000 from a local option income tax to compete for the grant.
The council meeting was moved from its normal site at Woodland Park to the high school to accommodate the crowd, which was vocal at times.
Hundreds of residents filled the auditorium, most of them opposing the tax and clearing out of the room as soon as the council approved it.
State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, addressed the council and crowd, explaining why the legislature enacted the matching grant program and detailing a summer study group that will study the program and other tax-funded initiatives.
"We can read this as after the elections (the study group) will decide what do," she said.
Landon Porter and Diane Bowman, of Americans For Progress, handed out blue T-shirts reading "Keep Rolling: NO WHEEL TAX" and flyers to attendees.
On the other side, dozens of union employees sported orange stickers reading "I support infrastructure in Portage."
One resident, Beto Barrera, told the council he and his wife are retired and, like many of the vehicle tax opponents, on a limited income.
"It's going to be a burden for many of us in Portage, and I also feel it's going to be a burden on businesses here in Portage," he said.
As long as the money goes to infrastructure, the wheel tax should pass, said resident Eric Ballard, who also wore one of the orange stickers supporting the wheel tax.
"I think it's a worthy effort, so the roads and sidewalks will be better for my children and the other children of Portage," he said.
After the meeting, Czilli said he hopes there still is room for discussion on the wheel tax.
"I still think there are more discussions to be had, and I hope we can have these discussions," he said. "There's nothing personal up here. We still have to work together."
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