Suburban commuters who come into Omaha for their jobs would have to chip in to help pay for street work under a proposal being considered by the City Council.
The ordinance, which will appear on Tuesday’s council agenda, would charge a “wheel fee” to anyone who lives outside Omaha but works in the city, and thus drives on city streets.
Councilman Chris Jerram, who introduced the measure, said Friday that he hasn’t yet determined the amount of the fee or how much revenue it would generate for the city.
But he said the payment would be collected by Omaha employers.
The fee would come out of the paycheck of any employee who resides outside the city, including in the communities of Bellevue, Lincoln, Council Bluffs and elsewhere.
Omahans and those living in most of suburban Douglas County would not be subject to Jerram’s proposed wheel fee since they already pay a city wheel tax.
Melissa Head, an attorney for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, lives in Council Bluffs and works in downtown Omaha.
Head, a Bluffs City Council member, said people who live outside Omaha already pay city sales taxes when they buy lunch downtown or make other purchases.
“It’s not like you’re working here with no consequences,” she said.
Jerram said he came up with the idea of a wheel fee after attending Mayor Jim Suttle’s community forums for his 2011 budget proposal.
“I kept hearing concern that there are thousands of people that are working in Omaha, using our streets ... contributing to the wear and tear and paying absolutely nothing for it,” he said. “I’d like to think that this shows we’re listening.”
The additional revenue generated by the proposed fee would go into the city’s street fund to help pay for resurfacing and other projects, Jerram said.
Employers would keep 4 percent of the fee revenue to help offset their costs to implement the fee, Jerram said.
City Attorney Paul Kratz said the Law Department has researched the issue and believes it would be legal for the city to impose a fee on those who drive on city streets.
The wheel fee would be somewhat similar to a city occupation tax, which has been on the books since 1983 but never imposed by Omaha.
With both the occupation tax and wheel fee, Omaha employers would collect it.
However, an occupation tax, at least as it’s been discussed, would be a fee paid by both the employee and employer. Suttle has said that he would be reluctant to charge an occupation tax because he’s concerned it would hamper job growth.
It was unclear Friday how many people live outside Omaha but have jobs in the city. Suttle has said he believes about 40 percent of the city’s workforce is from outside Omaha.
Suttle spokesman Ron Gerard said Jerram’s proposal “certainly is worth considering.” But Gerard said the mayor is concerned the tax would cost employers more than their 4 percent share of the revenue.
“We’d want to make sure that it would work throughout the business community,” Gerard said, “and that it would not deter from job creation.”
Jerram is offering his proposal as an alternative to Suttle’s plan for a $23 hike in the city’s wheel tax.
The mayor is offering the increase as part of his budget package for next year, along with a new restaurant tax and a property tax hike.
Jerram said he understands the need for a higher wheel tax because the $8.5 million in additional revenue is earmarked for street work. But he hopes the proposal to charge commuters the wheel fee would allow the council to lower the amount of the wheel tax increase, yet still have enough money for the city’s ripped-up streets.
Currently, the wheel tax is $35 for passenger vehicles and $54 for commercial vehicles.
Council members could vote on Jerram’s wheel fee proposal on Aug. 24, the same day they are scheduled to vote on Suttle’s budget.
Council Bluffs resident Jeff Ziegler said his “knee-jerk reaction” was to get angry about Jerram’s proposal.
“But when you think about it, we are partly responsible for everyday wear and tear on the roads,” said Ziegler, co-owner of the Maxum Group near 114th Street and West Dodge Road. “I probably put more miles on my car in Omaha than in Council Bluffs.”
Contact the writer:
444-3100, maggie.obrien@owh.com
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