Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Robert Ide. VTD/Josh Larkin
The Department of Motor Vehicles wants to increase about a third of all fees, including registrations, tests, inspection stickers and the sale of electronic information to insurers.
Rob Ide, the commissioner of the department, says the uptick in prices is within the cost of living price index for inflation. Fees were last increased in 2009.
If the proposal is approved by the Legislature, car registration fees will go up from $65 to $69 a year and $122 to $128 for two-year periods. The increase will raise about $3 million to support Agency of Transportation programs, or about half of the additional revenue generated by the fee hikes, or about $6.3 million.
Vermont’s registration rates for cars, motorcycles and heavy trucks are already the highest in New England, nearly double in most instances, according to a chart provided by Ide.
The biggest proposed flat fee increase is for diesel trucks under 6,100 pounds. Owners would see a $42 hike.
The registration fees for large gas and diesel trucks, calculated by weight, would go up by 6.61 percent. Big truck owners now pay $96 to $2,348.50 in annual registration costs. The rate in most neighboring states is about half that amount.
The increases are necessary, Ide said, because of funding pressures within the Agency of Transportation and the impact of Tropical Storm Irene on the state’s highway infrastructure. Ide described fees as the department’s “bread and butter” business.
The department’s operations costs are about $25 million a year; it raises about $260 million, Ide said. All of the money goes to the Transportation Fund.
Here is a list of the proposed registration fee increases: special plate registration from $38 to $41; duplicate registration from $13 to $15; registration transfers from $22 to $23; motorcycle registration from $41 to $43; registration of gas/diesel trucks under 6,100 pounds from $65/$27 to $69; trailer registration under 1,499 pounds from $23 to $25; registration trailer over 1,500 pounds from $45 to $49.
In addition, licenses will also go up: non-driver IDs from $17 to $20; four-year operator licenses from $45 to $48; two-year operator licenses from $28 to $30; junior operator license from $28 to $30; driver exam fees from $28 to $30; inspection stickers from $4 to $5; titles from $31 to $33; lien fees from $9 to $10; title certificates for motorboats, snowmobiles and ATVs from $19 to $20; lien fees for motorboats, snowmobiles and ATVs from $9 to $10; CDL skill tests from $30 to $40; subsequent CDL tests from $25 to $35; CDL endorsement fee from $10 to $15; CDL duplicate fee from $10 to $15.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 6:36 a.m. Feb. 1.
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Vermonters cannot take anymore!!!! Businesses cannot take anymore!!! Vermonters are barely making it now…please re-think this.
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Every time you cast your vote in an election, you should be thinking about the super majority rule currently in place in Montpelier, and what you can personally do to change this unhealthy imbalance. The constant cry for more fees and taxes to support an ever increasing laundry list of government programs will not stop until balance has been restored. Just imagine what they would want to tax next if Gov. Shumlin had not somewhat pulled back on the reins this year.
Vote for candidates that offer to stop the liberal spending insanity that so arrogantly thinks they know best.
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Anne,
These regressive tax hikes fall heaviest on already struggling, lower-income households and small businesses.
A more imaginative tax would be to a gas-guzzler tax on vehicles (cars, vans, SUVs and 1/4-ton pickups) that get less than 30 miles per gallon, the lower the mileage, the higher the tax.
It would be paid with registration or licence renewal.
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Why is only about half of the fee increase going to support the Agency -wWhere is the other $3 million going?
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Arthur,
Your are asking a good question. This may be the answer.
Funds get shuffled around between departments for pet projects that are underfunded and do not have the “convenience” of raising fees, as does the DMV.
Sometimes such holes are filled with federal money, sometimes from other “reserves”
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Craig
I agree with you and would go a step futher. I think we should raise the pay for state reps. to 65k a year and then the middle class can run for office . We would have more thoughtfull taxes and rules.
David
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I would like to see a comparison of all the fees Vermonters have to pay to the state (incorporation tax, hunting and fishing, licensing fees for certain professions, fee for using a state park, sales tax and motor vehicle fees and so on) to those paid in New Hampshire, Maine or Massachusetts. These are the hidden fees, so to speak, the state seems to raise every other year. Time to stop; many Vermonters will be leaving the state because they can’t keep up. These new fees can be the tipping point as education and property taxes take our spirit and energy away.