Revenues for Ohio’s County Engineers come from two primary sources, gasoline taxes and license plate taxes. Gasoline taxes are split equally between all 88 County Engineers. A county with a population of 20,000 receives the same gas taxes as a county with a population of 200,000.
The second source of revenue is through license plate registration taxes. County Engineers receive about 61% of the base plate registration tax and about 39% goes to cities and townships. Cities and Counties are then permitted to add their own local license plate registration taxes in $5 increments up to $30.
Most counties in Ohio have added at least a $5 local license plate tax, and the majority of those counties have added a $15 tax. Trumbull County has no local license plate tax. Trumbull only receives the state’s base tax.
In neighboring Mahoning County, their Engineer’s Office not only has an additional $15 local license plate tax but also has a 0.25% sales tax that alone raises over $10M per year that is shared with their townships for road improvements. The Trumbull County Engineer’s Office receives no sales tax revenues.
In summary, the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office revenues only include a share of the state’s gasoline tax and a share of the state’s base license plate tax. The Office does not receive any sales taxes, property taxes, levies, or any other taxes.
Without these additional revenues, the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office is doing everything possible to maintain our 456 miles of county roads and 372 county bridges.
The Trumbull County Engineer’s Office, in accordance with Chapter 5543 of the Ohio Revised Code, is responsible for the maintenance of Trumbull County’s roads, which consists of 462 miles of roadway within 625 square miles. The County Engineer is also responsible for the maintenance and replacement of 378 bridges and 1,601 culverts of various sizes located throughout the county. Among our many duties, we perform roadside mowing, ditching, snow plowing, drainage and road maintenance. We are also proud to work closely with the twenty-four (24) townships, five (5) cities, and six (6) villages that make up Trumbull County.