A vehicle fuel tax adopted by the City of Watseka will begin July 1.
The city adopted Ordinance 2611 at its May meeting and has discussion on the matter a couple of times since then.
Most recently at the June meeting, a letter from Watseka businessman Terry Pence, president of Pence Oil Company, was read into the minutes.
Pence was also present at the meeting and voiced his concerns about the new tax.
Watseka officials have noted that they need money to help pay for road repairs and maintenance in the city.
Penceâs letter reads in part, âRecently you passed an ordinance to tax motor fuel $.05 per gallon. When I talked to the Mayor and a few of the aldermen about this I felt that there was no research done prior to passing the ordinance; no idea how much would be generated or even how much Motor Fuel Tax we were getting presently.
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Watseka officials will work with a resident on issues regarding burning at the yard waste facility south of the city.
At Tuesdayâs Watseka City Council meeting, the issue was broached by resident Merrill Crowley, who said it was the third time he had discussed it with the city since 2019. (See Times-Republic articles dated June 28, 2019, and June 26, 2020).
Crowley said green wood produces benzene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. He noted, too, that the yard waste facility is in the vicinity of not only residents, but a hospital two schools and a nursing home facility that are affected by the south to southwest winds that blow the smoke from the yard waste facility into town.