State looking to boost fees

It's probably going to cost you $3 more to enter this world and $3 more to leave.

Every year Utah legislators increase dozens, if not hundreds, of fees charged citizens and businesses — including birth and death certificates.

But with the state losing $1.5 billion in tax collections this year, legislators are looking to hike fees even more as a way to make up some of that revenue shortfall. About $9 million in fee increases are proposed.

Those include relatively small changes — like a $1 increase to play nine holes of golf on state courses (from $13.50 to $14.50)— to a doubling of the $50 fee to help move a large construction vehicle on a state road to $100.

No change is suggested for some of the most popular fees charged, like hunting and fishing licenses. However, hunter-education range fees would go up by $1 per round.

And the above numbers don't include some other major fee hike proposals.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. suggests that vehicle registration fees go up by $20 per vehicle, per year.

And state court administrators are counting on a $12.5 million increase in various court and conviction fees to help keep courts open five days a week.

Some of the proposed fee increases should actually be higher, legislative leaders believe.

Senate Majority Whip Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, said the $1 golf increase — to $14.50 for a nine-hole round — is still too good of a buy.

"You could charge more," Jenkins said during an Executive Appropriations Committee meeting. And increasing the state course fees "would be more fair" to nearby private golf courses who are also trying to make it.

"We have (in the state golf course system) some of the best courses in the state," Jenkins added. "I think you could raise that another $2 or $3 and still be well under the market" of private golf courses.

But at the same time, some of the proposed fees may be too much.

Several leaders questioned why the state would charge thousands of dollars to rent out the Capitol grounds or the Capitol Rotunda.

Local high schools and other groups used to rent out the historic building for a dance or other function, and little of that is going on these days, they heard.

Under the proposed changes, renting out the rotunda would go from $2,000 to $3,000, while renting out the Capitol Board Room would go from $500 to $1,300.