The Department of Transportation plans to propose a series of measures, including lowering the driving blood alcohol limit to .08 percent and doubling car registration fees, to cover $428 million needed between 2003 and 2005, according to Alice Morehouse, Budget Director for the DOT.
The funds are necessary, Morehouse said, \to maintain a good transportation system, to attract businesses and keep businesses in the state,"" and also to take care of the current transportation system.
The DOT will obtain the money, in part, by raising annual car registration fees to $90 and increasing driver license reinstatement fees. Multiple other fee increases will also be proposed, according to Morehouse. The fee increases have been met with some cynicism.
""[A fee increase] is preposterous,"" said Sam Jack, a UW-Madison sophomore. ""They should use the money to develop alternative and cleaner transportation systems.""
But most students talked to agreed any increase will not deter annual car registration.
""Anytime you raise fees it makes it less appealing to own a car in Wisconsin, but I don't think a $45 increase will change anybody's decision to register their car,"" UW-Madison junior Jamie Hornik said
The DOT will propose a registration fee increase rather than a gas tax hike because the registration fees reimburse bonds that fund major highway projects, like the Marquette Interchange freeway system in Milwaukee.
The proposal also calls for lowering the driving blood alcohol limit to .08 percent to maintain federal funding. The federal government mandated a cut in funding to states that have not lowered the legal blood alcohol level to .08.
Students are optimistic about the lower limit.
""[A lower limit] is a good idea,"" UW-Madison sophomore Kendra Svehlek said. ""I don't really support drunk driving.""
Nonetheless, some students are skeptical of the motives of the DOT.
""I find it disturbing that the state is doing this to make money rather than to save lives,"" Jack said.
Even though Morehouse and state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, said that the proposal will not pass in its current form, they agreed that some fee increases are necessary.
""I think some adjustments in the rates are desirable because motor vehicles are not covering their costs. I feel that the rates should be adjusted upward,"" Risser said. ""I'm not ready to say the rates they suggested be the ones we ought to do.\
