KENAI, Alaska (AP) - Part of a bill introduced in the Alaska Legislative session would increase the price municipalities pay for their license plates.
The bill, sponsored by a House committee, would remove an exemption for municipalities that currently has them paying $10 per vehicle. That price would increase to the standard rate of $100 per vehicle, the Peninsula Clarion reported Sunday.
The bill includes a number of other adjustments for the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, including a $5 fee for driver knowledge tests, repealing permanent vehicle registration for vehicles that are at least 8 years old and increasing the age for free senior identification cards from 60 to 65.
Municipalities have objected to the bill. Alaska Municipal League Executive Director Kathie Wasserman said was informed of the bill the night before it went to the House floor.
“It’s too late by then,” she said.
Democrat Committee Chairman Rep. Jonathan Kress-Tomkins of Sitka said the bill resulted from an indirect expenditure report that the Office of Legislative Finance produced. The report highlighted some statute change recommendations and some recommendations produced in the Alaska Department of Administration Finance Subcommittee in the House.
“There’s two ways to look at it,” Kress-Tomkins said. “One is it’s increasing the vehicle registration fee for municipalities from $10 to $100. The other way to look at it is it’s eliminating a $90 reduction that municipalities have enjoyed and bringing the rate to the same rate everybody else pays. I’m not saying one’s right and one’s wrong. I’m just saying there’s two ways to look at it.”
Wasserman said the Division of Motor Vehicles does not operate at a loss, so the fees would go directly to the state’s general fund to support operations.
For municipalities with large vehicle fleets, it would significantly increase their costs. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough maintains a fleet of about 410 vehicles and the bill would increase the costs to register them from $4,100 to $41,000. Borough Manager John Moosey wrote in a letter to the Legislature that the increase would “dramatically” affect the borough’s operating budget.
“Arbitrarily raising prices for Alaska’s citizens on chosen services, when that service has not been shown to operate at a loss, should not be considered as a solution to help balance the state budget,” Moosey said.
The Senate Finance Committee heard the bill May 2 but has not advanced it to another committee or to the Senate floor.
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Information from: (Kenai, Alaska) Peninsula Clarion, http://www.peninsulaclarion.com
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