VEHICLE FEE: Encourages growth

I plan to vote NO on KMPO’s Initiative to raise Kootenai County’s vehicle registration fees, and suggest you consider the same. Let’s see what is really going on here.

KMPO wants this additional money so excessive, continued growth can be maintained in Kootenai County. Is it any wonder that Steve Wilson, former president of the Coeur d’Alene C of C, thinks this is a good idea? This growth has caused increased highway congestion, a huge increase in housing prices, and an explosion in residential property taxes.

Thanks to this property tax increase, we are all already paying more for our various Highway Districts. What we need here in Kootenai County are public officials who will contain this growth, like they have done in Boulder, Colo., not feed it.

Also, not mentioned in any of the Coeur d’Alene Press articles, is the $25 annual fee increase for motorcycles and terrain vehicles. These vehicles, and their owners, are hardly responsible for increased road congestion. Motorcycle owners already pay about 60% of what car owners pay. This is already absurd, but a $25 increase will mean motorcycle fees will then exceed what car owners pay now.

If additional highway money is truly needed, a much fairer system would be to raise the gasoline tax, which correlates much better to actual highway use, and allows non-resident folks, that are using our roads, to help pay their share. (And no, I don’t own an electric vehicle.) The KMPO proposed system is especially unfair for households that own more than one vehicle, but don’t drive a lot. A tax structure that correlates to activity is always better than an arbitrary, passive mechanism.

Wait! I have an even better idea! Anyone who moves here after the election should pay a $500 annual fee to register their cars and trucks.

DOUGLAS WEIR

Hayden