Northwest Iowa — While the bump in gas prices caused by the increase in Iowa’s fuel tax is not welcome by many northwest Iowa motorists, there is a silver lining to the cloud, so-to-speak.
Millions of dollars in funding are coming to the area for maintenance and repair of roads and streets. Statewide, the tax hike is estimated to gather $213 million per year. It is stipulated that 48 percent of the tax would go to the state, with 32 percent to counties and 20 percent to cities.
Unofficially, Lyon County and its cities should get about $906,000 extra, O’Brien County and its cities should get about $895,000 more. Osceola County and its cities should get an addition of about $584,000. While Sioux County and its cities stand to receive about a million and a half dollars more per year.
Osceola County Secondary Road Engineer Charlie Bechtold says that government subdivisions are waiting for new “official” estimates. He says that newer estimates will come out from the Iowa DOT in a couple of weeks. He says that the new estimates should be a more accurate assessment, as they’ll come in after the cash flow starts coming to road agencies.
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