Permanent Vehicle Registration Vote Delayed Again

On Tuesday, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted once again to delay the vote on an ordinance that would allow permanent registration of vehicles that are more than eight years old.  While that would mean a significant convenience for many in the borough, there were concerns about what would happen to funding for roads in the borough.

Assembly Member Jim Colver is sponsoring the proposed ordinance. On Tuesday, he introduced an amendment that is targeted at mitigating the lost revenue for roads.  Under the original proposal, funding for local RSAs would have dropped by about two-thirds.  Under the amendment, that funding would fall back to 2013 levels, a decrease of just over one quarter.

The overall cost to the borough would remain the same under both versions of the ordinance, around $2.4 million per year.   With the amendment, the bulk of that would not come from road funds, but from the portion of vehicle registration fees that are paid into the borough’s areawide and non-areawide general funds.  Areawide dust control matching funds, which are $710,000 for the current fiscal year, would be capped at $500,000 per year, and a reserve would be built to continue matching funds into the future.  That reserve is estimated to be approximately $1.4 million by 2018.

Any change to taxes and revenue for the borough comes with a number of complications.  As a result, the Borough Assembly voted unanimously to delay the vote on the ordinance and amendment to November.