Frustrated With Legislature, Douglas County Looks At Ways To Pay For Its Own Road Repairs

Saying that the Legislature has left them with few options to keep roads safe, officials in Douglas County are looking at increasing bonding or imposing a wheel tax for county road repairs.

Douglas County Administrator Andy Lisak said they’ll look at raising vehicle registration fees and bonding for an additional $1 million to pay for road repairs.

“As the Legislature and governor’s office fail to act, what they do is they force us to do things that they themselves are opposed to,” said Lisak.

Lawmakers have been at an impasse on how to fund transportation projects. Gov. Scott Walker has said he’s unwilling to raise fees to pay for road repairs, but Republican lawmakers have said they would rather increase fees or delay road projects to cut back on Walker’s proposal for $1.3 billion in new borrowing.

Lisak said he would like the Legislature to pass a bill allowing counties to put a referendum before voters on whether to increase the local sales tax to pay for road projects.