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State representative outlines Community Crossings options and what a wheel tax would mean for La Porte County
Summary
At a July 29 La Porte County budget workshop, Representative Pressel described two Community Crossings funding options (competitive grants vs. lane-mile distribution) and explained that a county would need to adopt a local wheel-tax surtax only to opt into the lane-mile distribution.
Representative Pressel, invited to the podium for technical explanation, told the council that Community Crossings remains primarily a state-funded grant program but now includes two distinct funding "buckets": the traditional competitive grants pool and a lane-mile distribution tied to local lane miles.
"There is 2 buckets for Community Crossings," Pressel said, adding that the first bucket is the familiar competitive grant round and the second is a lane-mile distribution that counties can choose to accept. He emphasized the program's intent: "We want those dollars to go into roads. We want it to go into asphalt." Pressel warned that the competitive grant amounts have varied and that gas-tax revenue fluctuations affect how much money is available overall.
Pressel clarified a common misconception: adopting a wheel tax is not universally required to receive Community Crossings funds. "You have to have a wheel tax if you prefer the lane-mile distribution," he said, meaning only counties that want the lane-mile payout must adopt the vehicle-registration surtax. He also described collection mechanics: DMV collects, the comptroller remits, and the auditor distributes the revenue locally.
The council treated the presentation as informational; no tax or ordinance was adopted at the workshop. Council members asked follow-up questions about eligibility for smaller incorporated towns, intergovernmental sharing, and how the lane-mile payout would vary year to year. The workshop closed with staff and the representative offering to provide more precise, county-specific revenue estimates before any formal hearings.
