A Bartholomew County official wants to investigate alternatives to instituting a wheel tax, rather than be forced by new legislation to create the new tax on vehicle registrations.

Bartholomew County Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz asked the county attorney yesterday to study options to the new tax, which county officials have long resisted.

Commissioners said that the state’s Community Crossings Grant program will be going through a major change under the new legislation, with counties being required to have a wheel tax in place to even be eligible for the state grants. The county has previously been eligible for up to a million dollars in grants a year, although that has increased to $1.5 million in recent grant cycles.

Changes under state legislation would empty the fund — spending the money for road improvements in Indianapolis, at railroad crossings and into a revamped Community Crossings Grant program that would require communities have a wheel tax in place, said County Commissioner Tony London

Kleinhenz said it is unfair that all gas station customers in the county pay to the state fund through a gasoline tax per gallon, without getting a share of that money back for road improvements. Kleinhenz asked the county attorney to look into opting out of those gas taxes, forgoing any state funding and instead keeping the money here. Kleinhenz said it may require a nationwide search of cases to find somewhere that has been successfully done.

Attorney James Shoaf said he was skeptical to find somewhere that idea had been successful.

The county commissioners and county council have long resisted creating the wheel tax, instead preferring to fund road projects though existing taxes. They say the wheel tax is being pushed on communities by the state.