By Sara Strong
The Rock County Board of Commissioners voted to implement a gravel tax last week.
Commissioners set the tax after additional discussion at their regular meeting Tuesday, July 2.
The production tax starts Jan. 1, 2003, and will be 10 cents per cubic yard or 7 cents per ton.
State legislation in 2001 changed the previous aggregate tax to allow any county to implement it, after a public hearing.
The aggregate material tax is a production tax on the removal of aggregate material, imposed on importers and operators.
Gravel pit owners and users will have to weigh or measure what they extract and report it to the county auditor.
The reporting wonÕt be easy to enforce, so pit owners will pay it on an honor system.
Rock County townships support it, because they will get a portion of the tax to help pay for roads in their small budgets.
State law calls for the county to receive 60 percent of the tax revenue, the townships to receive 30 percent and the remaining 10 percent to go into a fund for reclaiming gravel pits when they are abandoned.
Townships and the county discussed the tax and agreed on a further split. Of the township portion of the tax, half would be divided among the 12 Rock County townships and the other half would go toward the townships with active gravel pits.
The gravel tax was first discussed as a way to recoup costs of wear on roads used by heavy gravel equipment. It also considers that gravel is a resource that, once gone from the county, can't be replaced.
Rock County Commissioners reasoned that the county should benefit from a resource that is steadily leaving county lines.
Other area counties may follow suit with their own gravel tax. Murray, Pipestone and Nobles counties have expressed an interest, but are waiting to see Rock County's gravel tax results first.
Currently, 22 counties have a gravel tax in Minnesota.