Why I voted "Yes" on higher DMV fees
2023-04-03
Dear friend,
The musical "Hamilton" opened on Broadway in late 2015. By summer 2016, it had become a sensation, with Lin-Manuel Miranda and cast performing at the White House, and winning 11 Tony awards. It was late in 2016, after the election, that Mike Pence went to see the show and was confronted by the cast, making headlines again.
When we talk about "seven years ago" -- no big deal. It doesn't sound like 2016 was that long ago.
But I feel like Hamilton has been a thing since forever ago.
“Dying is easy, young man, living is harder.” — George Washington, in "Hamilton."
Timeless!
Morning with my son in January 2016
My now-fifth-grader wore the laugh of a 4-year-old in this picture.
I don't know if you've heard, but a few things happened geopolitically since 2016.
Something we once called "Corona" changed everything. By proxy, we're in a land war in Europe.
If you were Rip Van Winkle awaking from a nap of 2016-2023, I'd have a lot to catch you up on. You might feel a bit disoriented. You'd ask, "Who's Governor of Vermont?"
"Phil Scott is in his fourth term," I'd reply.
"That's reassuring," you'd say. "He seemed like a dependable type."
In the course of getting you a haircut, housing, and other essentials for someone sleeping off a seven years' nap in the woods, we'd make a visit to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
In the course of writing the check (why are these still a thing?) for your license renewal, you'd remark, "$30, huh? Now that's one thing that hasn't changed since 2016!"
"You have Phil Scott to thank," I'd say. "He's kept DMV fees unchanged since 2016. With the cost of a dozen eggs now encroaching on a $10 bill, and housing going through the roof, Gov. Scott wants to hold back on fee increases."
"Why?" you'd ask. "Aren't DMV fees and gas taxes how Vermont raises the money we need to match federal transportation dollars at a ratio of 4:1?"
"Yes, you're correct," I'd reply. "Vermont's State road and bridge budget, the annual Transportation Bill, or T-Bill, is funded by fee-for-use. We try to maintain our state roads and transit systems using these fees, so that we can dedicate as much of our property taxes and income taxes as possible to the Education Fund and the General Fund. Those funds are essential to providing statewide public benefits to society."
"And Gov. Scott hasn't updated those fees since 2016?" you'd ask. "But you've been telling me that your highway departments and Agency of Transportation (AOT) are seeing 20% annual inflation for major commodities, equipment, and just about everything, with diesel up $2 in one year and upward pressure on cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) for workers. Meanwhile, gas-tax revenues have been dipping for years because of fuel efficiency, even before EVs started taking off. Are you worried about falling behind in being able to pay for our roads if you hold DMV fees steady?"
"I'm sure AOT might have to tighten their belts, but it's only been seven years," I'd say. "How big a deficit are you talking?"
You'd reply, "Just doing some quick math in my head, you've probably got a $100 million structural deficit in your T-bill."
"Out of this year's $881 million bill, that would be a lot," I'd admit. "You're a little high from current projections, but that's where it's headed. Right now we're talking about 20% fee increases, like an increase in one-year car registration $74 to $89. That seems like a big jump. But imagine we re-elect Scott again and do this for three additional years, or longer."
"By that point we're going to have to increase fees by 50% to true up the cost of our roads with what we're investing in them," you'd project.
"Can you imagine the revolt the Legislature would face then?" I'd groan. "It would be too much of a jump. There'd be a lot of political pressure to scale back on the investments that we really need. Maybe we'd end up hiking fees 30%."
"And if a 20% hike seems like a lot now, imagine swallowing a 30% hike a few years from now! But that would mark the point in time when structural deficits in the T-bill became permanent, and our roads crumbled. Investing in better EV infrastructure? Bike lanes? Low-cost bus transit? We wouldn't be able to pay for that stuff."
"We can't just wish the need for transportation infrastructure funding away," you'd note. "In Scott's budget, you'd start to see transportation expenses show up in other parts of the budget, increasing the squeeze on other State services."
"At least DMV fees haven't changed in seven years!"
"Are you sure you were totally asleep for seven years?" I'd reply. "Because that's exactly what Gov. Scott did in his proposed budget this year. He proposed funding $3.5 million for construction of a new AOT District 8 Maintenance Facility. And while the project appears worthy, the State does not usually fund AOT garages in the Capital Bill. The Capital Bill is where we are paying for badly needed State Police barracks, statewide water quality grants, a new women's correctional and re-entry facility, a secure short-term stabilization facility for the Department of Children & Families (DCF), and more. The Capital Bill is where we're going to turn when the State lifts the current moratorium on school-construction spending, in order to start to update our aging public school facilities."
"The Governor looks like a good guy for trying to hold down inflation by keeping the annual fee for a vanity plate at $48 instead of $58," you'd say, "but Scott's policies simply squeeze our most vulnerable Vermonters by under-funding services across the state."
"I think you have a good read on the situation," I'd say. "Plus, you look great with seven years of bed-head. Keep being awesome!"
You reply, in perfect pitch, “There’s a million things I haven’t done, just you wait.”
I voted "Yes" on this year's Transportation Bill, which passed the House on a roll call vote of 100-39.
This year’s T-Bill reflects the considered use of Vermont’s influx of federal dollars, specifically the Infrastructure and Jobs Act (the bi-partisan infrastructure law passed by Congress in 2021). It includes:
Studying a mileage-based user fee for electric battery vehicles, which will come back to the Legislature in January 2024 with a potential launch in 2026 and with the 15% adoption of EVs.
$95.8M for our town highway programs; $107.7M for interstate and state bridges; $141M in paving for 455 miles; $18M for bike/ped and transportation alternatives; $27.9M for environmental policy & sustainability; $8.7M for public transit, and $43M for rail.
A one-time appropriation of $1M in bridge funding for Green Mountain Transit to continue Zero Fare through December 2023. This provides time and funding for GMT to modernize their fare collection systems.
Creation of the Electrify Your Fleet program to assist businesses or nonprofits that maintain vehicle fleets to transition to EVs.
Incentive programs for new plug-in electric vehicles -- Mileage Smart and Replace Your Ride -- funded with broadened eligibility criteria and increases in incentives offered to help Vermont access more fuel-efficient cars.
Continued funding for e-bikes and modifications to e-bike program eligibility to meet the program goals of helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
With such a big bill, totaling $880,976,461, I imagine I could find a few dollars here and there that I would trim, and save some of those fee increases.
But is that realistic? Roads cost dollars and unless someone finds a way to turn the clock back on 7 years of inflation, roads cost more dollars than they did 7 years ago. It's a tough pill to swallow, but we need to update our fees.
P.S. Want to poke holes in the above scenario? Tell me where you agree or disagree on my recent votes?
Tune on on zoom at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9054718804
Meeting ID: 905 471 8804
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