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Commission passes yearly vehicle tax after some argument

At their weekly business meeting Thursday the Hill County Commissioners voted unanimously to distribute funds from a 0.5 percent local option motor vehicle they intend to impose, a tax the commission approves every year, but not after some argument.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said he would not vote for the resolution unless Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown starts collecting credit card fees on all motor vehicle-related transactions again.

He said people who pay with credit cards online are charged fees, but people who pay with credit cards in person are not, and he will not vote to for the resolution unless the county starts charging fees to in-person credit card users as well.

Brown said online purchases go through the state, which is the entity that charges the extra fee, not the county.

Peterson seemed adamant that he wouldn’t support the tax unless Brown agreed to make that change.

“It’s very simple, if we go back to charging the credit cards, I’m good with it, but until then I don’t think we should be taxing one side and allow somebody else to get a break,” he said.

Peterson asked Brown if she consulted with the commission when the decision was made not to charge credit card fees for in-person transactions and Brown said yes.

This morning Brown said Peterson never came to her with this issue before and she didn’t know this was an issue before the meeting.

Armstrong said the tax in question generates a significant amount of money for the county and not authorizing it would hurt them.

Brown said the county gets more than $570,000 a year through the tax.

Armstrong, and, later, Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean, said they feel these issues really should be discussed separately.

Peterson asked Brown if she’d be willing to discuss the possible change at a later date, and she said yes.

After that the commission voted unanimously for the resolution.

During the meeting the commission also discussed a pair of contract amendments with the Hill County Council on Aging.

The first allows the county to reimburse them for their operations costs in the last fiscal year, a cost McLean said actually went down this past year.

The second amendment raises the amount of money the county is reimbursed by the state for each meal served at the council from $4.20, to $5.

McLean said the state is raising the amount due to inflation.

The commission voted in favor of the first but tabled the second, as it was added to their agenda later in the week and had not been published with the 48-hour notice required by Montana law.

During the meeting Hill County Commission Administrative Assistant Sheri Williams said she was stepping down as the county’s safety coordinator.

Williams said the county’s human resources position has recently been made full time, and the duties of safety coordinator would be absorbed into that position, so Williams can focus on working through the four year backlog of meeting minutes the commissioner’s office needs done.

She said she was honored to get the county’s safety programs off the ground and help the county’s WorkSafe Champions classes happen, classes that were completed earlier this year resulting in the county getting a $3,000 grant.

The commissioners thanked Williams for her work and praised her performance in the position of safety coordinator.

Williams is running as a Democrat in this year’s Hill County Commission race, facing Republican McLean and independent Les Odegard in the November election.

 

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