The Davies County Commissioners voted unanimously to increase buggy license plate fees in the county from 60 to $75. The vote was made last night at a regular commissioners meeting at the Shiloh Community Center.
Earlier this month, Commissioners President Nathan Gabhart said that the commissioners and Amish Safety Committee had already agreed on the increase, however officials wanted to make the vote in public at the meeting last night in the heart of the county’s Amish community. The increase is to help offset the cost of county road damage caused by horse and buggy traffic. When the county started looking at that damage there were 1800 buggy plates issued per year, now that number is 2400.
The Washington Times Herald reports the county spends $300,000 a year on horse and buggy road damage with licenses bringing in less than half of that. To equalize the damage the cost would need to be raised to $150 per buggy permit. However, that was deemed too high at this time. The newspaper quotes Gabhart as saying we need to make sure every buggy is permitted and the permits are not being moved from buggy to buggy.
With the increase comes some enforcement. There’ll be green warning ticket on buggies without plates. After that, a ticket fine will be $500 for violators. That’s similar to driving a car without a license.
Several Amish community members were at the meeting, none spoke against the permit fee increase.