Lake County is contemplating a 5 cent gas tax increase. It is important that you understand the issues so you are able to voice your opinion on this. The presentation will explain that our gas prices more than likely will not go up. Getting all of our roads up to safe standards in 7 years. A great goal that we all should be behind.
How did we get here?
- Too much development on our existing roads plus too many construction projects (with more trucks) tearing up our roads.
- Cost of asphalt adds to that issue as well.
- Coordinating with city, county and state authorities and the red tape to get resurfacing done.
- More cars on the roads due to tourism and people moving to our state.
There are a few alternate ideas that should be considered before rushing to a 5 cent gas tax:
- Gradually implement the tax a cent at a time to see the progress we make on resurfacing – it may not be money
- Identify the ratio of electric cars on our roads – they will NOT be paying this tax so we should find a way to include them in our solution
- Is this tax on Diesel Fuel also? It seems that trucks, especially construction trucks, cause more damage than cars.
- Citizen approval on which roads should be resurfaced first in the city
NOTE: This tax can ONLY be used for road resurfacing! It cannot be used for projects as implied on the LCBCC website link on 5 cent Gas Tax Information
The meeting is Sept 23rd at 9am, LCBCC Chambers located at 315 West Main St, Tavares. If you cannot make the meeting, you can send your comments to the board members OR attend virtually.