Drivers in Schuylkill County may soon be required to pay an additional $5 fee to register their vehicles.
The state’s transportation law passed in November 2013 gives counties the option of adopting a $5 vehicle registration fee. The money generated from the fee would then be used on local roads and bridges.
The Schuylkill County commissioners have not yet made a decision on implementing the fee.
“We haven’t had any serious discussion,” commissioners’ Chairman Frank J. Staudenmeier said Thursday. “I think over the course of the next few weeks, we will be looking at the pros and cons.”
Pennsylvania law requires that motor vehicle owners must register their vehicle with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation before taking it on the road. Both new and second-hand vehicles must be registered, regardless of whether they are purchased from a dealer or an individual.
Vehicles registered in another state must also register their vehicle in Pennsylvania. The initial registration must be done in person, while annual renewals can be done in person, online or by mail.
“It is an important issue and if it is a way to spread out the costs, it is an option,” county Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. said.
Commissioner Gary J. Hess said the county is limited in it revenue, but will consider the taxpayers before any decision is made.
“Naturally, this can be a new source (of revenue), but we want to see what that puts on the taxpayer,” Hess said.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, there were 150,723 registered vehicles in Schuylkill County in 2012. A $5 fee on each of those vehicles would have generated another $753,615.
The county commissioners must pass an ordinance to impose the fee. The earliest it can go into effect is Jan. 1, 2015. The county is required to notify PennDOT at least 90 days before the ordinance is to take effect.
The fee will be collected by PennDOT at the time of registration and the full amount will then be remitted back to the county.
The money can be spent as part of the county’s Liquid Fuels fund and that includes construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of public roads or streets. Money for liquid fuels fund comes from state tax collected at the gas pump. Allocation is based on population and miles of road.
PennDOT still has to iron out some of the details of how the funding will be administered and has not yet made it clear if counties can pass the money to municipalities or if it has to be used on county roads and bridges.
If imposed in Schuylkill County, the $5 registration fee would more than double the current money available through the county’s liquid fuel fund.
The county allocation from the state was $600,535.76 in 2013 and $580,806.99 in 2012, Lisa Mahall, county engineer, said.
Bridge repairs can cost about $300,000 to $450,000 and project funding is spread out over several years, Mahall said. The county can only average about two projects a year. The Liquid Fuels fund also pays for hours and benefits used by the engineering staff, Mahall said.
The additional $750,000 means the county can afford about two more projects a year.
Bridges and roads of Schuylkill County
Bridges are the main concern for county officials.
The county only owns three roadways across its 67 municipalities totaling 6.75 miles. They are University Drive going from Route 61 to Penn State Schuylkill in Schuylkill Haven; Airport Road going from Route 209 to the Schuylkill County’s Joe Zerbey Airport, Foster Township; and Highridge Road in Cass Township.
Meanwhile, PennDOT owns more than 600 miles of roadway and about 1,500 lane miles.
A lane mile equals the number of miles in each lane on a roadway. For example, if a two-laned road is five miles, it has a total of 10 lane miles.
Schuylkill County owns 61 bridges that are more than 20 feet in length and one that is less than 20 feet.
“Our major responsibility is county-owned bridges,” Staudenmeier said.
Pennsylvania ranks third in the nation in the number of bridges with 25,000 state-owned structures, but first in those that need repair with nearly 4,500 deemed structurally deficient, according to PennDOT.
The term “structurally deficient” is used to describe a bridge with a significant defect that often means speed or weight limits are enforced to ensure safety. If the bridge poses a further safety risk, it is closed.
There is a total of 500 bridges in Schuylkill County and nearly a third of them are considered structurally deficient. The state owns 343 of them and 83 are in need of repair. The remaining 157 are owned by either the county or municipality and 81 of them are structurally deficient.
PennDOT also placed new or increased weight restrictions on about 1,000 state and local bridges in September 2013 in an effort to extend the life spans of the structures. New or increased limits were placed on 11 state-owned and 26 locally owned bridges in Schuylkill County.
Two county bridges have been replaced over the last few years: No. 112 in South Manheim Township and No. 106 in Port Carbon. Eight were recently repaired: nos. 56 and 51 in West Penn Township; No. 123 in Port Clinton; No. 100 in North Union Township; nos. 134 and 136 in Tamaqua; and No. 128 in Schuylkill Haven.
Repairs are currently being completed on county bridges No. 160 in Upper Mahantongo Township and No. 120 in Barry Township.
Several county bridge projects are going to be put out to bid in 2014.
Bridge No. 113 on Newswanger Road in Washington Township will be placed out for bid in March or April. The estimate cost for that project is $1.2 million.
Other bridges expected to go out to bid in 2014 and estimated costs include: No. 92 in West Brunswick Township, $400,000; No. 30 in Pine Grove Township, $300,000; No. 125 in Upper Mahantongo Township, $80,000; No. 42 in Rush Township, $95,000; and No. 7 in Barry Township, $300,000.
Costs continue to rise
The price to register a vehicle is already set to increase even if the county commissioners do not impose a new fee. The new law will increase vehicle registration from $36 to $38 by 2017, then it will rise based on the inflation index.
The governor’s transportation bill also calls for the gradual elimination of the cap on the franchise tax over the next five years. The Transportation Funding Advisory Commission estimated that could increase the price of gas 28.5 cents per gallon by the time the cap is fully lifted. It will only be partially offset by the elimination of the 12 cents per gallon liquid fuels tax.
By 2017-18, the new law will generate more than $2.3 billion in additional funding for the state’s transportation network.
Municipalities in Schuylkill County will receive an additional $3 million over that period as part of a projected $220 million a year distributed to local governments.
State liquid fuel allocations for the 67 Schuylkill County municipalities over the 2013-14 fiscal year were $4,740,142.16, according to an annual report from PennDOT.
Schuylkill Haven is annually allocated about $110,000 in liquid fuels funds, Scott Graver, borough administrator, said.
Graver said he would like to see the state put additional funding towards the replacement of the state-owned bridge on Columbia Street in Schuylkill Haven.
“I am not sure what date the bridge was built, but some individuals have indicated that it may have been in the 1930s,” Graver said. “The bridge does have some very noticeable structural deficiencies, such as exposed rebar.”
Graver also said another fault of the bridge is that during heavy rain, it holds back water in the Schuylkill River. He said impeding the natural flow of the river creates flooding in lower Schuylkill Haven.
“Replacement of the bridge at a slightly higher elevation would help minimize flooding impact during such an event,” Graver said. “Unfortunately, Schuylkill Haven has a long history of flood events and the placement of the existing bridge contributes to the severity of a flood event.”
Decades of annual and bi-annual inspections of state bridges have revealed that much work and funding is needed to repair or replace them in the borough, Graver said.
“Although no one likes to see any increase in the form of taxes,” Graver said. “I don’t believe there are many alternatives available to allocate funding for long overdue projects that essentially can not be ignored any longer.”
The City of Pottsville receives about $290,000 annually in liquid fuel funds, Thomas A. Palamar, city administrator, said. The funding is used for road repairs and street lighting.
“We use that money wisely and stretch it as much as we can. We are always happy with any support we get from the state or local government. Every little bit helps us.
As a city, we know we need to step up to the plate and do certain projects on our own. If they can find a way to give us more funding for projects that need to happen, that would be fantastic.”
This winter has been especially tough on roads.
“It’s been a difficult winter and our roads are about as bad as we ever remember them being,” Palamar said. “I think what we are experiencing is a terrible winter and the repercussions are more than just shoveling snow.”
Additional funding would help the city maintain its 44 miles of streets and alleys, Palamar said.
“Unfortunately, our infrastructure in northeastern Pennsylvania is in poor condition overall,” Palamar said. “Local municipalities are already really running close to the chest when it comes to maintaining their roads. Just our normal maintenance takes a lot of resources. We spend so much time patching and repairing roads, it doesn’t leave us with a lot of money for larger projects.”
Some streets in the city require more than temporary repairs like patch work. They need rebuilding, Palamar said.
“To repair them completely, they need to be replaced,” Palamar said.
Along with the additional funding, Palamar said he hopes the state will allow for more flexibility when it comes to spending it.
Since state funding usually focuses on heavily used roads like Route 61 through the city, Palamar said he would like to see more funding on the smaller roads, sidewalks and intersections.
“The focus is always on big projects, but the people that live here utilize the streets in a much different manner,” Palamar said.