New diesel tax to be decided in January

Last year, Nye County officials broached the idea of instituting a new tax on diesel fuels sale within the county, holding a series of public workshops to gauge the public’s sentiment toward the idea and determine just how to move forward.

Nye County commissioners eventually decided that the proposal should be put to a vote of the people and a ballot question was poised to be included in the 2022 general election. However, a missed deadline meant that route was barred for the next two years, leaving the Nye County Public Works Department with little choice but to turn to the commissioners themselves for approval.

Last month, public works director Tom Bolling went before the commission to explain the need behind the request to establish a Nye County diesel fuel tax and by its next meeting, the board had set a date for a public hearing on the ordinance that would officially create the new tax. The hearing is set for the commissions’ first meeting of the new year, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.

“You know what’s at stake,” Bolling told commissioners in November. “You know what we are requiring. Ultimately, the $10 million that Lumos figured it would take us to maintain our roads every year, that was before the 30 percent inflation in our costs for materials, so now it’s more like $13 million.”

Bolling added that the entire country is bracing for an expected recession and when that hits, gas sales will drop, meaning that the Nye County Public Works’ road budget will see a related decrease.

“Our department is driven by sales,” he said, noting that the county’s 9-cent per gallon gasoline tax is a primary funding source for road maintenance and repairs in Nye County. At this time, the county does not receive any funding from diesel taxes collected at the pump, all of which go directly to the state. If commissioners authorize the establishment of a county-specific diesel tax, that would provide much-needed revenue for the already struggling road department.

“I understand that the diesel tax is not a whole lot of money, but it will eat up quite a bit of that downfall (in revenue due to dip in the Gross Domestic Product),” Bolling stated.

Nye County is the third largest county in the United States and currently, there are over 640 miles of asphalt roadway and a further 387 miles of chip-sealed roadway that the road department is responsible for maintaining. The road department’s annual budget, however, only allows for a very small percentage of that total to actually see maintenance work each year.

As detailed by the information presented at the county’s diesel tax workshops last year, a 5-cent per gallon diesel tax would bring in around $425,000.

The Nye County Commission will decide whether or not to grant the road department’s request on Tuesday, Jan. 3. The meeting, which begins at 10 a.m., will be publicly accessible at the Nye County Commissioners Chambers in Pahrump, 2100 E. Walt Williams Drive, or Tonopah, 101 Radar Road. The meeting can also be watched online by visiting www.NyeCountyNV.gov or participated in via teleconference by calling 888-585-9008 and entering conference room number 255-432-824.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com