BAILEYTON, Ala. – The Baileyton Town Council welcomed Cullman County Commissioner Garry Marchman to its Monday night meeting to help clarify what, if any, impact the recently passed statewide 10-cent fuel tax increase will have on the town.
Explained Marchman, “Gas, August 31 of this year, will increase 6 cents a gallon. Then it’s going to increase 2 cents a year beginning Oct. 1, 2020 and then 2021 it will go up 2 cents for a total of 10 cents. We are going to get just a small portion of this. I think $1.27 million is the magic number is what Cullman will receive when this thing reaches its full potential.”
As for what that amount would do to help the Town of Baileyton, Marchman said, “Not a whole lot.”
Marchman pointed out that Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman was recently appointed to the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP-II) Committee, which oversees infrastructure projects. He encouraged town leaders to stay in touch with Gudger as well as Rep. Randall Shedd, R-Fairview about specific improvements they hope to see in their community.
Marchman continued, “We’re going to get that $1.27 million coming back to us off this initiative, but one thing they are looking at and one thing they have done through this bill is they have cut our federal aid funding. Right now, we get around $800,000 a year of federal aid funding, and that federal aid was originally established for things like farm-to-market roads. We have a lot of roads in Cullman that fall in the category of roads that are necessary for farmers to get their products to the markets.
“Last year we sold over 50 million gallons of gas in Cullman throughout the entire Cullman (area). We have a 1-cent tax in Cullman on gas. That 1 cent goes to whatever area it was sold in. If it was sold inside a municipality, that municipality gets 1 cent. If it was sold in the county, the county gets 1 cent. So, when you look at the numbers, the City of Cullman, City of Good Hope and City of Hanceville and stuff like that, they actually receive more money off of gas money for roads than the county does as a whole.
“The state receives 18 cents now in tax on a gallon of gas and that will eventually increase to 28 cents. That’s $14 million a year from Cullman each year going to the State of Alabama,” Marchman stressed, “The state maintains about 200 miles of road, but a lot of roads they maintain, aren’t just state roads. Highway 278, 65, 31: these are all U.S. highways. These aren’t state highways. They are funded by the federal government. If you take the 200 miles of road the state’s got and they are getting $14 million a year to fund those roads, that means they are getting, when this thing matures, they’ll be getting about $70,000 per year per mile of road to maintain the roads in Cullman County, Alabama. But, the only roads they are maintaining are the state roads. We need these people who are representing us to go down there and fight tooth and nail for every penny they can get, because folks, there’s a lot of tax money coming out of Cullman that we aren’t going to reap the benefits for.”
Marchman told the council that he would not have voted for the tax plan but that he doesn’t hold it against Gudger or Shedd for voting in favor due to understanding the need for a transportation initiative.
Marchman’s opposition to the bill is, he said, “We are not getting those tax dollars back locally. We are getting such a small percentage when we have such a great need here in Cullman for infrastructure.”
Marchman left the council with a copy of the fuel tax bill and the breakdown by county of estimated funding each would receive. According to Marchman, the widening of Alabama Highway 157 is supposed to begin this summer after the city was awarded a federal grant that was matched by the state. (See www.cullmantribune.com/2018/12/07/this-is-big-really-big-city-of-cullman-announces-14m-grant-to-complete-hwy-157-4-lane-project )
Councilman Greg Griffin asked, “So as it stands right now, Baileyton, Alabama will notice very little difference other than paying more in gas?”
Marchman replied, “That’s right.”
Griffin followed up, “Will this eventually affect the widening of (U.S. Highway) 278?”
Marchman said, “Yes, Randall (Shedd) had talked about some of the state projects that he wanted to see funded and the widening of 278 is one of those projects.”
In other business, the council approved creating a temporary full-time employee to help during the summer months with mowing, maintaining the park and other needed maintenance. The Cullman County Sheriff’s Office recently limited each municipality to one trustee per day and could not guarantee the same trustee each day. The council determined creating the temporary position would be more economical and efficient than transporting a trustee to and from Baileyton and training that trustee every morning.
The Town recently had to replace a couple of tires and need to replace two more after two of the town’s maintenance vehicles experienced blowouts. The council approved the purchase of the tires needed for the dump truck and backhoe.
The mayor and town council participated in Parkside School Career Day on May 3. Councilman Windell Calloway declared the event a huge success as he spoke about how engaged the students were.
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