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Ordinance
aims to bring equity to road funding
by
Wendy Crotts
Landmark reporter
Platte County Commissioners say they
are trying to bring equity to road funding in the county.
That's the reasoning behind the passage of an ordinance
on Thursday that regulates distribution of County Aid
Road Trust (CART) revenues, motor vehicle sales tax revenues
and motor vehicle fee increase revenues. The ordinance
prohibits distributing the CART revenues to road districts
that have more money to spend per mile of road than County
Road District No. 1, which is managed by the county commission.
The four special road districts in the county-Platte
City, Parkville, Farley and Weston-are separate governmental
entities. With passage of the ordinance, Platte City and
Parkville Special Road Districts will see a reduction
in funding. "We are trying to get equity in spending
per mile in all of the districts. This is just the first
of many moves planned," said Steve Wegner, second
district county commissioner. Platte City Special Road
District previously had funding of $23,807 per mile of
road. The new regulation will cut that by $333 per mile,
down to $23,475.
Bill Brown of the Platte City Special Road District this
week declined to comment on the county's action, saying
he hadn't yet had a chance to look at the new ordinance.
Parkville Special Road District will get a larger deduction.
Their funding will see a reduction from $15,506 per mile
down to $14,087, a decline of $1,420 per mile. Weston
Special Road will continue to have $3,966 to spend per
mile. Farley may receive a very slight increase above
its current rate of $3,466 per mile. The county commission's
road district, Road District No. 1, will benefit by $405
per mile of road. Its available funds will go from $5,698
per mile to $6,104.
According to Wegner, the state instructs the county commission
to come up with regulations on how the CART money will
be distributed. The money must be spent for the maintenance
and building of roads as needed. At Thursday's county
commission meeting, comments were invited from the public.
No one spoke out on the issue. The action came after a
recent proposal by Wegner to de-annex a portion of County
Road District No. 1 into the Platte City and Parkville
road districts met with a cool reception from road district
officials and eventually was withdrawn.
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