House OKs boost in fees for off-road vehicles to $17

House members voted to raise the registration fees of off-road-vehicles Tuesday.

HB220 by Rep. Brent Goodfellow, D-West Valley, would allow the state Parks and Recreation Board to raise the current fee from $10 per vehicle up to $17.

The hike would raise more than $1 million, with $860,000 going to develop new ORV trails and maintain current trails, around $225,000 going to the State Trust Lands authority, which in turn will use the monies for trails on state trust lands.

Goodfellow said various ORV associations agree to raise their own fees, as long as the new money goes for trail maintenance, signage and other ORV development. "Ten years ago there were maybe 20,000 ORVs in Utah, now there are 160,000. The use has exploded," he said.

Some small rural towns located near the most popular ORV sites gain significant tourism dollars from the from the activity. A separate bill, yet to be passed, would expand the current out-of-state snowmobile registration fees to include all out-of-state ORV registration, too.

Together, said Goodfellow, Utah can get ahead of the curve in developing ORV trails and amenities, and further stimulate rural economic development and safe use for the recreational vehicles. -->

HB220 barely passed, however, 39-30, as a number of conservatives voted against any increase in fees in an election year for the House and Senate.