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BELLEFONTE -- Just days after a bridge collapse in Pittsburgh, the Centre County commissioners took a look at the county's fee for local use and its subsequent allocations in the county.
The fee for local use is a $5 fee for each non-exempt vehicle registered to an address located in Centre County. Funds are used by Centre County for transportation purposes or shall be allocated by Centre County in accordance with 75 PA C.S. 9010(c) (related to the County Liquid Fuels Tax Fund) and consistent with guidance issued by PennDOT.
The fee for local use -- originally known as ordinance No. 2 of 2017 -- is up this year. With that in mind, the commissioners will look to extend it at the Feb. 8 meeting.
Anne Mesner, senior planner-transportation for Centre County, talked about the fee for local use at Tuesday's meeting.
"The fee for local use ordinance that was enacted in 2017 has a five-year sunset provision," Mesner said. "It is time to consider extending this ordinance. PennDOT is asking for a 90-day notification so they know what to do with fee collection. They have indicated a resolution is the path to continue the ordinance that was enacted in 2017."
Chair Michael Pipe said that he's in favor of extending the fee for local use.
"This was something that five years ago we spent a great deal of time on. We heard from a lot of municipalities. We want to make sure that we're using these funds in a productive way and I think that we have, in a number of different ways," Pipe said.
Pipe cited the bridge collapse in Pittsburgh as a reason to keep the fee for local use going.
"We just saw in Pittsburgh, recently, the collapse of a bridge that was a pretty striking reminder that our infrastructure, is in many cases, deteriorating. Any investments that we can do saves us money in the long run -- from potential total reconstruction that may be needed in the future. But if we can rehab it beforehand, we'll be saving some money," he said.
According to Pipe, municipalities request monies every year and those funds come from the fee for local use.
"We continue to see these requests coming in from municipalities every year for projects that they have to defer due to not having funds available. Anytime that we can leverage local funds to this magnitude, again, to see that we have safe streets and improving communities … it makes sense to do that," Pipe said.
Commissioner Steve Dershem said that he wasn't certain that he would vote to extend the fee for local use.
"When you have a $10 or $12 fee on a vehicle and you increase that by $5, I struggle with that, in particular when it comes to trailers," Dershem said. "I don't know where I'm going to land on this next week. I can support moving this forward … but I don't know next week where I'm going to land in regard to support of this … I'd like to see how this money can be leveraged against the infrastructure money that will be coming in from the state and federal government."
Mesner provided a list of several municipalities that are requesting funds from the fee for local use. They are:
-- Bellefonte Borough, $25,000 for streetscape safety improvements on South Spring and West Bishop Streets. Total project cost is $281,593.
-- Curtin Township, $57,150 to fix deterioration of Blue Row and Middletown Road. Total project cost is $114,300.
-- Gregg Township, $3,066.37 for signs for Bitner Hollow, Grenoble and Bluebell Roads. Total project cost is $4,439.17.
-- Millheim Borough, $13,788.99 for signs and equipment (MX6000HSTC Kubota with boom mower and front end loader). Total project cost is $62,883.99.
-- Rush Township, $83,816.25 to improve McCord Road so opposing traffic can pass. Total project cost is $167,632.50.
-- Snow Shoe Borough, $84,094 to improve deteriorating roadway on West Sunset Avenue. Total project cost is $109,094.
The Centre County commissioners will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at the Willowbank Building. The meetings are open to the public and masks are required. The meeting is also televised live by C-NET and streamed live on YouTube.