Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Transportation: Registration Fee Redux

This article illustrates how it is farcical to assume that by implementing a $10 fee for transportation needs in our area that we can be sure that more money will be spent here in the county. True, the state has assured us that we have earmarked funds, but what it hasn't said is that funds, otherwise spent here, will go elsewhere. UDOT has been circulating about town, leaving sound bites in its wake, to assure us that much of the States transportation need exists in, and around, Davis County.

Bottom line: UDOT determines the use of funds allocated to it. It funds needs according to the timing and priority of its own choosing.

Cities cannot be assured that their own needs will be funded first, or at all. Money provided by the registration fee could have been provided by the state. If there were a need, UDOT would, in theory, take care of it anyway.

The registration fee is yet another way of shifting the burden, while disguising the cost of transportation. And the real transportation needs of this County may yet be ignored.

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