Two weeks after approving a hike in the county’s wheel tax, the Yankton County Commission is working on the next step of implementation — the ordinance.
During its regular meeting Tuesday, the Yankton County Commission had its first reading of the new ordinance for the wheel tax, raising it from $4 per wheel on up to four wheels to $5 per wheel on up to four wheels.
The move is expected to bring in an extra $113,000.
Commissioner Joseph Healy noted that the hike is needed to put the county in a better position to get state funding for bridge overhauls and replacements.
“The Bridge Improvement Grant (BIG) through the state is a competitive bid process,” Healy said. “Going to $5 maximizes our chance at future awards of grants for bridge repair and bridge replacement.”
Commissioner Dan Klimisch said simple answers to the county’s road woes are fleeting.
“I can see both sides of this,” Klimisch said. “If you’re going to fix the roads, the money has to come from somewhere. Nobody wants to pay more taxes. It’s a tough one. There’s no easy answer.”
However, he said he’d love to see other opportunities pursued.
“My concern that I’ve voiced is we haven’t really looked for a lot of options where we could possibly do some reduction of cost,” he said. “One thing I brought up some time ago was looking at turning some roads to minimum maintenance.”
Since it was a first reading, no action was taken during Tuesday’s meeting. The matter will be addressed at the next meeting in September.
At the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting, Yankton County Register of Deeds Brian Hunhoff spoke during the public comment period and implored the commission to look at implementing a mask mandate at the Yankton County Government Center.
Hunhoff commended the Yankton School District and many local retailers for making their own mask requirements based on CDC guidelines.
He said it’s time for the county’s office to do the same for customers and employees alike, as use will only be increasing in the coming month.
“We need to implement a 60-day mask mandate for staff and customers in the Government Center,” he said. “Many people come into this building every day, and customer traffic will increase considerably more when early voting starts in two weeks. More traffic means a greater chance of infections. And it means we have more customers to protect.”
He added that while he and his staff have been wearing masks consistently on the job for the last four months, the same cannot be said of others in the building.
“Everyone who works in this building shares the same restrooms, break rooms, stairways, hallways and entrances,” he said. “Until everyone is on board, our people will not be as safe as they could be. And no, the answer is not wear a mask OR social distance. We need to do both for optimal results.”
No action was taken on the item due to it being a public comment item.
However, Hunhoff said in an email to the Press & Dakotan that it’s expected to be discussed informally at a county department head meeting today (Wednesday).
In other business, the board:
• Approved three conditional-use permits, a plat and a variance;
• Appointed Chris Barkl to the Yankton County Planning Commission;
• Discussed the Mead Cultural Education Center’s transportation alternatives (TAP) grant application;
• Held the first reading for the approval of an updated employee handbook;
• Chairperson Cheri Loest was noted as absent at the beginning of the meeting. However, she had been attending the meeting remotely and was on mute on Zoom until 16 minutes into proceedings. She participated in the remainder of the meeting.
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September 02, 2020 at 10:09AM
https://www.yankton.net/community/article_9703c278-ecc9-11ea-aae0-074bd17fa450.html
County Moves Forward With New Wheel Tax Ordinance - Yankton Daily Press
https://news.google.com/search?q=Wheel&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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