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Local quarry manager speaks against proposed Putnam County rock tax

Thursday, March 21, 2019
By JARED JERNAGAN, Assistant Editor

It remains unclear how seriously county officials are taking a citizen’s proposal of taxing rock hauled out of Putnam County quarries.

However, the manager of one such quarry is hoping they will seriously consider the impact on his and other businesses.

Ed Gehr, Indiana district vice president and general manager with Martin Marietta, spoke to the Putnam County Council during its March meeting on Tuesday. The company operates the quarry on U.S. 231 just north of Interstate 70.

Following a recently conversation with Councilman Larry Parker about the proposal, Gehr decided to address the council directly.

“A severance tax puts the suppliers within the county at a severe disadvantage,” Gehr said.

The proposal, brought to the Putnam County Commissioners and Putnam County Council by citizen Ty Sutherlin, is that each ton of rock that is hauled out of local quarries be taxed at a rate such as 50 cent per ton.

Such a move would need the approval of the Indiana General Assembly before the county could enact it.

Gehr hopes it never gets that far. He pointed out that it would penalize both the quarries of Putnam County and their employers.

While others may operate in the county, the suppliers in the county are operated by Martin Marietta, Cloverdale; Hanson Aggregates, Putnamville; North American Limestone Co. (NALC), which also includes Midwest Calcium Carbonates, Cloverdale; Lincoln Park Stone, Putnamville; and S&G Excavating, Greencastle.

In the case of Martin Marietta, Gehr said such a tax could lead to losing a major contract with the Duke Energy plant in Cayuga

“We supply limestone to the Cayuga power plant,” Gehr said. “There are other high-quality producers in other counties and, in fact, there are producers in the State of Illinois who could supply that. It’s competitively bid every year.”

He also pointed out that the county has access to increased road funding through the increased gasoline tax that went into effect in 2017 and has funded programs such as Community Crossings, from which Putnam County has benefited.

“I urge the county to utilize the programs that are currently in place as well as the funding from House Bill 1002 to fund roads,” Gehr said.

Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Director Kristin Clary voiced her agreement with Gehr.

“We would ask that you don’t put any of our local industries at a competitive disadvantage,” Clary said.

One other point Gehr made was that such a tax would also increase the cost to the county of gravel for roads.

Councilman Gene Beck also pointed out that Martin-Marietta has been good to the county in the past, recalling a flood in the 1990s in which the quarry donated stone to help with the rebuilding of roads.

Council President Dave Fuhrman assured Gehr that the council was not necessarily considering the rock tax, just gathering information.

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  • While Mr. Sutherlin's intentions may have been honorable, they were not well thought out. When you begin to tax individual industries you start down a slippery slope. If I am correct, there is already a sales tax on the products these quarries produce.

    Why destroy one of the industries of Putnam Co. with an oppressive tax. Why not embrace a local industry and support them in every way possible. Currently, they pay all of the other taxes that most businesses pay. That should be sufficient.

    -- Posted by rawinger on Fri, Mar 22, 2019, at 6:36 AM
  • *

    Why raise taxes at all?

    If the county is having funding issues, perhaps they need to see where they can cut costs.

    The county courthouse would be a great place to start.

    -- Posted by dreadpirateroberts on Fri, Mar 22, 2019, at 9:09 AM

  • Consider the dust, noise, dynamiting, traffic,and the stone that falls from the overloaded trucks. Consider the loss of useful soil, trees, animal habitat-----forever. When a stone quarry becomes obsolete there is nothing left but a useless huge hole----forever.

    Call it an "EXTRACTION TAX". The tax should go to the county, or better yet the township, from which the product is being taken and sold. The product has great value or it wouldn't be mined or sold. Once gone, it's gone forever. Stone is not like a crop that can constantly be renewed.

    Lee and Susan Stewart

    -- Posted by tolomac on Fri, Mar 22, 2019, at 11:57 AM

  • "Consider the loss of useful soil, trees, animal habitat-----forever. When a stone quarry becomes obsolete there is nothing left but a useless huge hole----forever."

    That is actually not the case. Through a process called ecological succession, the former quarry will turn into an old growth forest in just a couple of millennia, if left undisturbed.

    -- Posted by Koios on Fri, Mar 22, 2019, at 12:19 PM

  • There is stone in other counties as well. It doesn't take much time to shut down a site and open a new one in another county. I hope we don't chase these businesses out of Putnam County.

    -- Posted by Workingthesoil on Fri, Mar 22, 2019, at 1:54 PM

  • I would expand it to a mining / tonnage export tax & include cement for Putnam County. Obviously it's one of our most valuable resources. The original .50c per ton may be to high & impact contracts but a lower rate expanded into all mining / export, for rock, cement, shale sand, would benefit the county. Our roads are a joke. Warren township for example is getting zero miles of repaving based on last falls article on this year road improvements yet Warren township has more stone & cement leaving the county daily than the rest of the county. Wake up County officials this is a no loose proposition. Worst case we slow them down making huge ugly holes in our county.

    -- Posted by 1970 model on Sun, Mar 24, 2019, at 1:11 PM

  • Anyone know when, where & how frequently the county council & county commissioners meetings take place please advise if you do thanks.

    -- Posted by 1970 model on Sun, Mar 24, 2019, at 6:29 PM
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