At the Union County District Court's regular session in February, District Judge Mike Loftin proposed an ordinance to create a new budget line for fuel tax revenue for gas utilities.
"We have to keep up with where it is being spent on the auditors," he said, referring to regular reviews of local tax revenues and funds. "It's in untied funds now. We're creating a line item for it – actually a budget of its own – so we can show them how much we have before we spend it."
The proposed ordinance was to move $ 227,718.14 from unrestricted fuel vehicles to the new 2003 Fund – Department 0200 – Line 2032 (County Roads & Bridges / Fuel Tax).
According to Loftin, the tax brings in about $ 16,000 per month for the county. According to a revenue summary for February 2021, that month $ 16,854.36 of revenue was posted under the tax line and the balance at the end of the month was $ 244,687.27.
Before the Quorum Court voted on whether to create the new line, it noted that no new money was used, only income from the tax.
"The money is there. We are not using any new money," he said. "The money is there."
According to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, wholesale fuel tax rates for 2020 are 3 cents per gallon of gasoline and 6 cents per gallon of distilled specialty fuel (clear diesel). Fuel tax is an excise tax, which means that it is billed to the supplier or manufacturer, although it is likely that the cost of selling the product would be passed on to a retailer and then to an individual customer.
The total tax rate in Arkansas for gasoline is 24.5 cents per gallon and 28.5 cents for specialty fuel, according to the EDA. Law 416, which provides for the fuel tax, was passed in 2019 as part of Governor Asa Hutchinson's agenda to improve the state's highways and roads.
Loftin said he wanted the county to save the funds generated from the tax.
"We haven't spent any of it, and I have no plans to spend any of it this year," said Loftin, district judge responsible for overseeing the county road system. "We'll let it build until there's enough to show it off, and then we'll do something with it."
The ordinance was easily passed with a unanimous yes among the current members of the College Court. It is Ordinance No. 1591.