Legislation that attempts to change the pool of eligible voters who decide when to give extra funding for local roads passed the Senate Thursday, but not without opposition. A road district is when residents form a group to maintain a road that lies outside municipality boundaries. Under current law, only residents of that county are allowed to participate in road district elections. Senate Bill 65 attempts to change the requirements to any eligible voter who owns property in the affected area. Opponents of the legislation question it’s method of linking owning property to voting rights. State Senator Angie Buhl O’Donnell supported the bill in committee but then opposed it on the Senate floor.
“I don’t always buy the slippery slope argument in terms of what other districts or what other kinds of elections this could begin apply to, but I would have a really hard time telling someone if they came up to me and said, ‘Well, I want to vote in the school opt-out election because I own property in a certain place and if they pass this opt-out my property taxes could go up.’ I would have a really hard time explaining to them the difference why I might say no to that and why I would say yes to this,” Buhl O’Donnell says.
Supporters of the legislation say a road district tax is different than other property-related taxes because it’s a want to improve the road, not a public necessity. They say that difference should allow the change in voter pool. The bill passed the full Senate 24-10.