Cooperstown News Bureau

COOPERSTOWN - Driving a motor vehicle may soon cost Otsego County residents more as the county board seeks to impose a local tax on car and truck registrations.

Last week, the county Board of Representatives introduced a local law that would impose a $5-per-year surcharge on passenger vehicles weighing up to 3,500 pounds. For heavier or commercial vehicles, including trucks and buses, the fee would be $10 per year.

The county tax would be payable when vehicles are registered or registrations are renewed.

At those rates, the tax might generate about $280,000 a year, although Rep. Gregory Relic, R-Unadilla, said Tuesday the rates will likely be halved when the local law is debated at the Dec. 4 board meeting.

That would mean county residents would be charged $5 more when they register or renew the registration of small vehicles for the typical two-year period, and $10 more when they register or renew heavier vehicles. At the lower rate, the tax would probably generate about $140,000 for the county.

"I think we need to enhance our revenues, and we can't keep raising the property tax," said Relic, a member of the county's Public Safety Committee, which introduced the law. "This year we took nearly all equipment requests out of the budget, but you can't run a county without equipment. Eventually it's going to catch up to us."

Rep. Ronald Feldstein, D-Otego, said he too favors the motor vehicle use tax, given the county's rising budget, which probably will cause an increase of about 11 percent in the property tax levy next year.

"Many other counties have gone this way," said Feldstein, noting that the county board has opted not to raise the sales tax this year and has few options for increasing revenue.

According to Matt Burns — a spokesman for the state Department of Motor Vehicles — Nassau, Westchester, Suffolk, Niagara, Schoharie and Tompkins counties had the tax on the books as of June 2002.

However, a motor vehicle clerk in Schoharie County said the county did away with the tax in 1999.

"It wasn't real popular over here," she said.

The proposed new tax may have a rough ride when introduced next week. Rep. Donald Lindberg, R-Worcester, said he will fight the measure.

"Tax and spend, that's all these guys can do when what we ought to do is cut the budget," Lindberg said.

Rep. James Powers, R-Butternuts, said he too will oppose the tax.

The state charges between $30 and $45 for registering a small vehicle for two years, and from $47 to $76 to register a larger vehicle, according to Tom Robson, an Otsego County motor vehicle clerk. The local fee would be added to the state fees.

Robson said the county could generate thousands of dollars more each year without costing drivers a penny if residents registered and renewed registrations at offices in Otsego County rather than elsewhere.

"The county gets 12.7 percent of what we take in when we process registrations here," Robson said. "Lots of people are sending registrations to Utica, but we're losing money that way."

As a bonus, the county offices provide faster service, said Robson, noting that the local DMV office's address is P.O. Box 710, Cooperstown, NY 13326.

If the law is enacted, the extra fee will be collected from Otsego County residents no matter which DMV office they use, according to the DMV.

Cooperstown Police Chief Michael Crippen said if the county must pass the tax, the money it generates should be used to maintain county roads. However, as currently written, money from the tax would become part of the county's general fund.

A public hearing on the local law is slated to be held at 10 a.m. Dec. 4 at the start of the county board meeting.