Davis commissioners to decide on $10 vehicle fee

CLINTON — The Davis County Board of Commissioners will soon decide whether to implement a $10 annual fee for vehicles registered in Davis County and whether to let county voters decide on a sales tax increase in November.

Each year the vehicle registration fee would bring in about $2 million that must be used for buying land for future road projects, a concept known as corridor preservation.

The sales tax, on the other hand, would be a .25 percent tax that would bring in $8 million to $10 million a year for transportation projects. One-fourth of that revenue must be used for corridor preservation.

The Davis County Council of Governments, or COG, an advisory council of the county's 15 mayors, met Wednesday and recommended that commissioners establish the fee by April 1, so the county can begin collecting the money in July.

A second recommendation from the COG urged commissioners to get the tax increase on the ballot during this year's municipal elections. In the meantime, the COG's transportation task force will work on prioritizing transportation projects in the county.

If commissioners decide to implement the vehicle fee, the county would collect $1.9 million in its first year, an amount expected to increase as more cars are registered in the county.

"What haunts me," said Commissioner Louenda Downs, "is what if we don't do this project?"

During 2006, it would have cost $100 million to purchase the land where a future extension of the Legacy Parkway could go. As land values increase and more homes are built, that purchase price could skyrocket.

"Now look what it's costing," said Clearfield Mayor Don Wood. "It might be politically painful (to support)."

But a $10 vehicle-fee increase is not a tremendous burden on taxpayers, he said.

North Salt Lake Mayor Shanna Shaefermeyer countered that her residents are concerned because commissioners recently voted a 37 percent increase on the county portion of property taxes to pay for jail operations, flood-channel renovations and better services from the county's Division of Senior Services.

That increase is expected to bring the county about $7 million each year.

Another increase would be a hard sell to residents of her city, she said.

Last year, commissioners voted down the fee when they didn't have unanimous support from all 15 city councils in the county.