GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) - Green Bay residents could still end up paying a $20-wheel tax for each vehicle they own.
The city council voted down the idea this summer, but now Mayor Jim Schmitt is proposing it with his city budget.
“It is something that we hear out there,” said Schmitt. “The aldermen hear it and it needs to be addressed.”
Mayor Jim Schmitt tells FOX 11 he wants the tax to help pay for road and sidewalk repairs. The wheel tax would replace bills sent to property owners for work done on their street.
“In our neighborhood, the average assessment was about $2,000. That is 100 years of wheel tax that everybody uses these roads.”
This summer, the city council turned down the wheel tax on a 7 to 5 vote.
One of the no votes was from Alderman Mark Steuer.
“I felt that over the years we should have had some monies set aside each year for that.”
A difference between Schmitt's new proposal is the tax could end in four years. Steuer isn't sure yet if he will support the plan.
“I have four cars, so it would be $80 for me. I could pay that, but it's like anything else, it's just another little burden. The burden of special assessments is large too, so that's the thing I'm wrestling with.”
“I think people are going to see an improvement and in four years, if it's working, maybe we'll continue it,” said Schmitt. “If not, we'll end it.”
The wheel tax would generate $2 million a year.
Without a wheel tax, the council would have to make cuts to Schmitt's budget or raise property taxes to pay for that amount of road work.
Even with the wheel tax, Schmitt is proposing a property tax increase for the first time in at least five years.
He says it would equal about a $30 increase for a $136,000 home, which is the city average.
Schmitt says the increase is for previously agreed upon police and fire salary increases, as well as other proposed city employee pay raises.
