After hours of testimony, several amendments, and a conference committee, the House and Senate passed a measure that increases funding for roads and bridges. Senate Bill One raises several things: taxes, fees, and the speed limit on the interstate.
Senate Bill One raises the gas tax by six cents and the excise tax by one percent. It raises license fees and license plate fees by 20 percent. It allows a county to impose a wheel tax of five dollars per wheel and up to $60 per vehicle. The bill sets up a tiered levy system, which opponents say limits counties. They say the measure puts more emphasis on the needs and wants of the state and doesn’t give enough money to local governments. Senator Troy Heinert says the measure does nothing to help poor areas.
“My county right now, if we were to go to the 1.2, that would raise $170,000. That doesn’t pay for my road from my house to the county road, to the highway,” Heinert says. “And we have hundreds of miles of county roads, that school busses go on. So that’s why we were very supportive of getting more money into our county hands. Because we don’t have an option. The county I live in, we could raise it to ten bucks, doesn’t matter. We just don’t have the tax base.”
Supporters say Senate Bill One is important for South Dakota’s road system. Senator Bernie Hunhoff says it’s better than nothing.
"It’s not the position any of us want to be in," Hunhoff says. "But we do need a roads bill. I think we all are savvy enough to know that this is probably the moment. If we’re going to have a roads bill this is probably the moment. We’re probably not going to get it done next year, and the future is uncertain. And you’ve got a chance right now to pass something if you think we’ve got a roads problem. If you don’t think we’ve got a roads problem, you haven’t been driving in South Dakota very much, especially on the local level again. So I would just ask you between the two bad choices, you know, vote yes, and let’s see what we can do to address the property tax issues and the other issues in this bill. But we need to go home with something.”
The House passed the measure 55 to eleven, and the Senate passed it 25 to nine.
If the Governor signs the bill into law, changes take effect on April first of this year.