What’s most surprising is that no one has mentioned this until now, Higher truck fees threaten Toledo port:
ODOT - seeing its gasoline tax revenues declining dramatically as people travel less and drive more fuel-efficient vehicles - has set its sights on large trucks to make up part of the shortfall.
It notified truckers last month that it had raised permit fees for vehicles heavier than the state’s standard 40 tons from the traditional $55 a year to $500 a quarter, an increase of 3,536 percent in 10 months.
To put that number in perspective, if gasoline rose by the same amount between now and next summer, filling up a 20-gallon tank would cost $1,500.
I also recommend reading this article from Land Line Magazine:
One state’s recent announcement of steep price increases for oversize and overweight permits appears to have come with little notice, although truckers with oversize and overweight loads have begun making their voices heard.
David Gorrell noticed a letter from the Ohio Department of Transportation in his mailbox on Oct. 16.
Gorrell, an OOIDA member from Londonderry, OH, hauls 60-foot-long steel beams on his 53-foot step deck trailer. The letter announced that beginning on Oct. 16 – that same day –he would face multiple different price increases for oversize permits.
Gorrell learned that Ohio no longer issues 365-day permits and that single-trip permit fees for oversize or overweight loads are rising from $15 to $86 immediately, then to $143 by March 2009, and $200 by July 2009. The 90-day permit fee jumped from $20 to $306 on Oct. 16, and will rise to $528 in March and $750 in July, which will be 36 times the previous cost.
What’s even more interesting is that the Ohio Revised Code has a process in place addressing economic development, Written permits for oversized vehicles which in part states:
For purposes of this section, the director may designate certain state highways or portions of state highways as special economic development highways. If an application submitted to the director under this section involves travel of a nonconforming vehicle or combination of vehicles upon a special economic development highway, the director, in determining whether good cause has been shown that issuance of a permit is justified, shall consider the effect the travel of the vehicle or combination of vehicles will have on the economic development in the area in which the designated highway or portion of highway is located.
I also recommend reading the Business Plan it does not specifically mention raising these fees as part of the Strategic Initiatives For 2008-2009, all it states is:
In addition, the department will work with the General Assembly to explore new and innovative ways to fund transportation, including various tolling methods, public-private partnerships, indexed user fees, the leveraging of existing assets, fair share fees, and state tax increment financing.
Ohio becoming known for the state that charges the most for oversize permits does not seem to be something that we’d want to do considering how important transportation and the whole intermodal concept has been to this area. It’s amazing to me that a whole slew of elected officials past and present pushed the concept of 391% interest being a really bad thing when it comes to payday lenders but here we allow our very own state to increase fees a heck of a lot higher than that, without even a peep…or should I say a beep…
Updated: TAHL has shared a letter from Senator Mark Wagoner written to ODOT - it can be viewed here.
