I don't like this idea at all.  We know it will never go away, and it will only go up.  This will lead to a full blown property tax on automobiles.

No thanks.  This commissioner needs voted out for even suggesting this, IMO.

It appears that Commissioner Chris "Fiscal Conservative" Reilly has discovered user fees in lieu of taxes.

This man has built his political career on "fiscal conservatism" and keeping taxes to a minimum, and, to his credit, there have been no County real estate tax increases for two of the past three years.

But he has a new fondness for backdoor taxation through fees.  Last June it was the $50.00 Cremation Fee which was supposed to be a supplement to the cash strapped Coronrer's Office but which has instead become just a small drop in the General Fund.

Will the registration fee suffer the same fate?  One would hope that the Legislature included language specifically ordering the fees collected to go to the bridge program and no other.

But wait!  Even if the Legislature made such a provision there is nothing stopping the County from reducing the General Fund allocation to bridges by an amount equal to the new revenue from the fees.

A tax by any other name would smell as odious.

Maybe when we have a couple of bridge collapses and deaths the $50 won't seem to be too high a price to pay ? 
 

Tarnation wrote:

There are three bridges currently closed in York County because of imminent danger of collapes: an open grate bridge on Ironstone Hill Road on the York Township-Springfield Township (PennDOT road, not helped by the $5.00 NOT $50.00 fee); Woodberry Road over the York Rail tracks in West Manchester Township, (again PennDOT road, not helped by the $5.00 NOT $50.00 fee); and Kise Mill Road up in the Dillsburg area (once again, PennDOT road, not helped by the $5.00 NOT $50.00 fee).

This just doesn't pass the smell test.

If I were TEA party candidate Henshaw my campaign slogan would be "Real Conservatives don't impose fees".

Yep, the fee is $5, not 50 and I believe the money is only for the locally owned road bridges. From what I understand PA has approx 25,000 bridges on state roads and about 6,500 bridges on local roads. I believe Pendot is responsible for inspection of all of the above bridges. Again, from what I understand with the 25,000 state owned bridges, PA has the third largest number of state owned bridges in the nation. On the State side (pertaining to what you listed above), we lead the nation in structually deficient bridges. The average age of bridges in PA is approx. 50 years. I am not sure what the current number of structurally deficient bridges is currently, but I believe it to be around 6,000. PA obviously has a major problem that has festered for many years and we will soon pay the price at a state level. 

The YDR article I posted said York County has 95 locally maintained bridges. I would expect the percentage to be close to the state structurally deficient (SD) levels. I believe this is what the local issue is for the $5. IF we want to manintain them in a safe manner (or close them), that then likely becomes our choice at the county level of how best to fund it which is what they appear to be grappling with. The other option would be to raise the county tax percentage to accommodate the needed repairs. (or just close them is also another alternative).
 


 


 

Last edited by tennyson (4/23/2015 10:59 pm)