Proposed levy would update County’s vehicles
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
POLSON — An older fleet of trucks and pickups requiring more and more maintenance as they age prompted Lake County Commissioners to put a two-year Lake County Road levy on the June mail-in ballot.
The newest vehicles in the county’s current stable of workhorses are three 2006 Internationals and the oldest of the nine is a 1979 Ford. Repair costs were $48,000 for the 2013-14 and $55,000 for 2014-15.
“What it really turned into last winter was a public safety issue since only two out of nine plows were working,” Commissioner Bill Barron said.
Commissioner Ann Brower said the levy is specifically for roads, and what people pay in taxes now would only cover getting their driveway plowed one time.
The proposed two-year levy would allow Lake County to purchase eight new 10-cylinder trucks complete with snowplows and sanding boxes and four new one-ton pickups complete with snowplows and sanding boxes. The vehicles would be utilized year round for county maintenance.
The beauty of the one-ton pickups with snow plows is that the big trucks could plow but not have to turn around, back out or stop to maneuver in intersections; they could leave that work to the smaller, more agile one-ton vehicles.
People have suggested privatizing snow plowing, but Jay Garrick, supervisor of the Lake County Roads Departments “penciled it out,” according to Commissioner Gale Decker.
Garrick found Lake County is providing more service than it could afford to pay for.
If approved by voters, owners of a house with a market value of $100,000 would pay $19.48 per year while homeowners with a $200,000 house would contribute $38.96.
Ballots will be mailed on June 1 for the proposed levy and must be returned to the Lake County Election office by 8 p.m. on June 16.
