Posted by Hey Everyone!
Our Registration and Trail Pass Fee Increase proposal did not pass this past session, We will continue to pursue it with our legislators. The campaign season is under full swing as all state assembly representatives and 17 of the 33 state senators are up for re-election. There will be a very large amount of campaigning that will take place this summer and fall. Please take the time to talk to them about why we need these increases… I am listing the proposal and the reasons below.
To Increase our Snowmobile Registration from $30 for 3 years to $45 for three years.
Our Club (AWSC) Pass will go from $10 to $20
The Non-Club Member (DNR) Pass will go from $30 to $50
The Out of State Pass will go from $50 to $70
The reasoning is simple….
We have not had snowmobile registration and trail pass fee increase since the 2013 season, when Act 142, our Trail Pass Program was enacted.
This last year, we were nearly $4 million dollars short of funding the project requests put in by our clubs and alliances. We have seen similar shortfalls for a number of years now, and it is not sustainable…
We have seen the projects that were approved for funding double in cost since the 2014-2015 season. We are not keeping up with infrastructure grants needed to maintain our 1700 structures included in our funded trail system.
We have seen the price of grooming power units and drags that our clubs need to maintain our trails increase between 60% and 100% since Act 142 was enacted. Needed parts and repairs to our current equipment have increased by similar proportions.
Our funding reimbursements for equipment and labor rates have not kept up with inflation we have seen since our last increase.
We have not had any additional miles of funded trails added for more than 7 years. There are still hundreds of miles of trails that are completely funded and maintained with zero reimbursements.
Our program uses no taxpayer dollars. We, the users, riders and providers, are asking for this increase. Our current trail system will not be sustainable without passage of this bill.
Please contact your State Senator and Assembly Representative and ask them to support this bill. If you need to know who they are, you can go to this link: https://legis.wisconsin.gov put your address in the “Who are my Legislators” box, and it will bring up who they are for the address you put in.
And as always.. THANKS TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS THAT MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Sam Landes
AWSC Director-Dane County
AWSC Legislative Committee Chair
Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile Clubs