At the 07/07/2021 Common Council meeting, Alderpersons Brad Firkus (District 3) and Chad Doran (District 15) introduced a resolution asking that money be included in the 2022 budget for “the Department of Public Works to work with a consulting firm to determine the feasibility of creating a transportation utility for the city of Appleton that would assess a fee primarily to be used to assist in funding street maintenance projects, but may also be used as source of funds for other transportation services, not including operational expenses such as snow removal or street sweeping”
Essentially, they are concerned that the wheel tax is not generating enough money to maintain the roads and they would like to investigate the possibility of charging properties within Appleton “a quarterly fee on properties within the city of Appleton based on the type of property and the number of trips generated by that type of property…rather than basing fee amounts on the number of registered vehicles are kept at a particular property.” The resolution also included a provision that if the wheel tax be eliminated if the city moved to this new system.
The resolution was referred to the Mayor’s Office, not to a committee.
Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12) asked if the Mayor’s Office would be referring it to a committee.
Attorney Behrens said that, by rules, the Mayor was required to report back within 60 days what his response was regarding the resolution. The resolution was asking that moneys be appropriated in the executive budget, so that would be an action for the mayor to look at. The executive budget doesn’t require committee approval, but at some point it will be in the hands of the Council so they will have an opportunity to take some action at that point.
The full text of the resolution is below:
#9-R-21
Transportation Utility Study Resolution
Authors/Cosponsors: Brad Firkus, District 3 and Chad Doran, District 15
Submitted on: July 7, 2021
Referred To: Mayor’s OfficeWhereas our transportation system is a utility essential for meeting the needs of residents of our community; and
Whereas the wheel tax has declined in share of how much of our road reconstruction projects it is able to fund, leaving us to either consider eventually increasing the wheel tax, finding an alternative to the wheel tax, or to live with the decreasing impact of the wheel tax on our road reconstruction project; and
Whereas alternative methods to the wheel tax of providing funding for our transportation system exists and are worth exploring; and
Whereas among these alternatives, the establishment of a transportation utility acknowledges explicitly that our transportation system is in fact a public utility and expands upon the idea behind the wheel tax which sought to find a more equitable sharing of funding to care for our transportation system than the funding mechanism that preceded it; and
Whereas by levying a quarterly fee on properties within the city of Appleton based on the type of property and the number of trips generated by that type of property, per statistics compiled by most recent edition of the Institute of Transportation Engineers’s Trip Generation Manual rather than basing fee amounts on the number of registered vehicles are kept at a particular property, we can accomplish a more equitably funded transportation system;
Therefore, be it resolved that the City of Appleton include in the 2022 executive budget funds for the Department of Public Works to work with a consulting firm to determine the feasibility of creating a transportation utility for the city of Appleton that would assess a fee primarily to be used to assist in funding street maintenance projects, but may also be used as source of funds for other transportation services, not including operational expenses such as snow removal or street sweeping;
Be it further resolved, the wheel tax shall be eliminated should a transportation utility be established for the city of Appleton.
For further references:
Funding Streets Through Transportation Utility Fees – League of Wisconsin Municipalities: https://www.lwm-info.org/DocumentCenter/View/4060/Funding-Streets-through-Transportation-Utility-Fees–final-61620
Trip Generation, 10th Edition – Institute of Transportation Engineers: https://www.ite.org/technical-resources/topics/trip-and-parking-generation/trip-generation-10th-edition-formats/
Resolution #9-R-21 Transportation Utility Study Resolution
View full Common Council meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=867240&GUID=24258141-DBC7-4247-935C-A5411B4C9045&Options=info|&Search=
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