HERMANN — Hard-surfaced county roads remains high on many Gasconade Countians’ wish lists, despite an obvious source of funding. But such a lofty desire often has to take a back seat to a more practical achievement, such as clearing debris that flows over low-water crossings during a heavy rain storm.

That was the case with resident Joe Herndon, who Thursday morning expressed concern that county road crews didn’t move fast enough to clear limbs that were blocking part of a crossing near his home in the southern part of the county.

That concern evolved into a general discussion about hard-surfaced roads — a discussion that county administrators have heard all too often in recent months. Herndon asked if the county could place a fuel tax on a future ballot. That possibility was raised recently by Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville. Such a tax could provide the funding needed for a program to hard surface county roads.

But, as officials explained, the county can't seek a fuel tax of its own; a fuel tax is within the domain of state and federal governments.

However, a use tax — a sales tax placed on out-of-state purchases such as those made via the Internet — is something the county could benefit from. That is, if only the voters would approve the tax. During the past decade, Gasconade County voters have stood firm against a use tax, voting it down a half-dozen times.

Lairmore is puzzled as to why county voters won’t adopt a use tax, which is applied to purchases over $2,000 — an amount, he noted, that would exclude most county residents from the tax.

“I don’t know why it won’t pass,” Lairmore said. “I’m not sure why people don’t understand it.”

The associate commissioner explained that the county does what it can in converting at least parts of gravel roads to a hard surface through the use of chip-and-seal coatings.

“We do a little bit each year, what we can afford,” he said, adding that county administrators continue in their effort to uncover sources of money for a road-conversion program. “We are looking at different source of funding,” he told Herndon.

Regarding the county road system, Lairmore, Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel, R-Hermann, and Jim Holland, R-Hermann, met earlier that morning at the County Road Department for interviews with applicants of jobs expected to come open within the road agency. In this particular session, the Commission interviewed four applicants.

“We had some good candidates,” Holland said. Miskel added that announcement could be made soon regarding the results of those interviews.

Meanwhile, the Meramec Regional Planning Commission's Transportation Advisory Council (TAC) is scheduled to meet tomorrow afternoon to consider the priority items of the region’s eight counties’ 5-Year Plans. Those plans contain several road and bridge projects with each county designating three projects as priority items.

In Gasconade County, the priority items are eliminating the hazardous intersection at Highways 100 and J, constructing a new Highway 19 bridge over Frene Creek in Hermann and make safety improvements on Highway 19 at it runs alongside the campus of Gasconade County R-2 School District.

The TAC will hear presentations from supporters of each of the priority items and settle on a final list for the region’s 5-Year Plan. That list will be considered and voted on by the planning agency’s Board of Directors and then forwarded to the Missouri Department of Transportation to be incorporated into the state’s 5-Year Plan.