Drivers in Utah County can expect to pay an additional $10 in vehicle registration fees starting July 1, 2006, which will be used to improve and conserve roads throughout the county.
The decision to raise vehicle registration fees was unanimously approved by Utah County Commissioners on Tuesday, Mar. 28, 2006.
The additional funds collected from the registration fees are expected to generate about $2.5 million a year for corridor preservation projects.
Since Utah County beat an April 1 statewide deadline to implement the fee, the county will be eligible to receive additional funds from the $10 million set aside by the state to aid counties that decided to raise the fee in their road preservation projects. Salt Lake and Davis counties are among the counties that have also approved the raise.
Shawn Elliot, transportation planner for the Mountainland Association of Governments, said the association is in the process of studying which areas in Utah County are of primary concern. He said MAG is trying to look at areas of high growth where right of way would be needed in the future.
Elliot said the Lehi area has benefited the most from these types of funds. Lehi was granted $6 million last year to preserve the 2100 North interchange onto the freeway [U.S. Interstate 15].
The vehicle registration raise was considered in a meeting last week with MAG and 21 area mayors.
Provo Mayor Lewis K. Billings was among the local mayors that supported the raise.
“He felt it was a way the county could generate money for much-needed transportation issues,” said Raylene Ireland, director of governmental and community relations in Provo. “And it was a means for the county to get the matching money from the state. There was overwhelming support by almost all the mayors in the area.”
Ireland also mentioned she was concerned that although these types of transportation issues are important in Utah County, she doubts most people know what is really going on or are involved in the dialogue.
“This summer mayors, county commissioners and MAG will decide how to distribute the money to which projects,” Elliot said. “Our studies should be finished in May, so we’ll have a good idea then to see which areas need the most attention.”
Students on campus have different views on the raise in vehicle registration.
“I think it might be OK,” said Jeris Hobbes, an undeclared major from Idaho Falls, Idaho. “But it really sucks [that] we’re going to have to pay an extra $10, because I think we already pay a lot as it is now.”
On the other hand, Eric Otto, a senior accounting major from Michigan, said his car is not registered in Utah, so he doesn’t have to pay the registration fee.
“I don’t have to pay here, so I think it a great idea,” he said. “I get the benefits of more efficient roads, and not have to pay anything for it.”
State legislation started allowing counties in Utah to collect fees on driver registration in 2005, and con-tribute the money generated by the fees to road corridor preservation projects.
Copyright Brigham Young University 30 Mar 2006
