state politics: idaho

Idaho Gov. Otter Wants Sharp Rise in Registration Fees

By Sharon Fisher, 2-27-08

Despite statements by Wayne Hammon, administrator of the Division of Financial Management, earlier this session that Governor Butch Otter had told the Department of Transportation to consider other options for registration costs, the Department yesterday revealed a plan to charge everyone in Idaho a flat fee of $150 to register each vehicle.

Hammon had told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee originally that the Department had requested a 75% increase in fees across the board in order to pay for a $200 million shortfall in maintenance. He had also said at that time that the Department was told to consider other options, such as charging vehicles by weight or fuel efficiency rather than the current system of charging by age.

The age requirement was removed, but nothing was put in its place. Instead, the fee goes to $150 per vehicle for everyone.

The analogy is being made that the registration fee is an entrance fee to the state’s highways, with people then being charged by the gas tax based on how much they drive. The other analogy being made is to a smorgasbord: you pay the same $9.95 whether you take one plateful or four platefuls of food.

Commercial vehicles are also getting a big jump, with the addition of a fee of 4 ½ cents per mile, which critics quickly pointed out would be transferred to consumers.

The plan is supposed to raise $202 million altogether, but it did not consider any sort of attrition effect, such as that people might take some vehicles out of service rather than pay $150 for each one. In other words, even the increased fees might not raise the needed amount of money, if people don’t register as many vehicles.

The lateness of this proposal is also causing problems in the Legislature. First of all, JFAC is due to complete setting budgets at the end of next week – but it will be difficult for the committee to do so without knowing whether the proposal will succeed. In addition, the proposal still includes a plan by Otter to shift funding for the Idaho State Police from the gas tax to the general fund – which would free up the gas tax money to be used on roads – but JFAC has already set the ISP budget, and it specifically did not do this shift, citing concerns about declining revenues.

Second, the Legislature has already passed the deadline for most committees to submit bills; only the three or so privileged committees in each chamber can submit bills at this point, and Transportation is not a privileged committee. Instead, the chair of one of the privileged committees – most likely House Revenue and Tax, headed by Representative Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot – will need to be persuaded to print the bill.

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