The primary funding mechanism to repair roads is taken from what is called Motor Fuel Tax. The small tax is imposed at the fuel pump by the State of Illinois and then divvied out to the various governmental units. The Monmouth City Council reviewed a proposed ordinance to impose a $.01 fuel tax on every gallon pumped.
After some discussion, the council voted to amend the ordinance to $.02 cents per gallon. City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher discussed the potential revenue this could generate for Monmouth:
“We had estimated that one cent per gallon would generate $22,000, so two cents would generate about 44 (thousand). That’s about enough to do about a block a year,” he said.
Monmouth has not had an increase in their Motor Fuel Tax in 12 years despite the climbing costs of road repairs. Based on prior projects, the average road repair and resurfacing project falls between $50,000-75,000 per block. The proposed tax will start on Sept. 1.
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written by Jackson Kane
