State lawmakers Thursday will finally unveil a list of fees likely to be increased to plug holes in the state budget.
The proposal, aimed at raising $96 million, wouldn't increase the fees for basic driver's, hunting or fishing licenses.
But it would raise a long list of fees and licenses. They range from fees paid by airports to pay for state safety inspections and annual stamps for coin-operated amusement machines to charges Georgians pay for specialty license plates or to obtain a mortgage loan.
Some of the fees have not been increased in decades.
"There is going to be a lot of pressure on it [the bill] to be looked at and passed," said Senate Appropriations Vice Chairman Greg Goggans (R-Douglas), who worked on the proposal. "If not, we've got to look at places in the budget to cut."
Lawmakers have been looking in earnest at raising old fees because of the state's continuing budget crisis. The state has been cutting spending for two years and needs several hundred million dollars in either revenue increases or spending cuts to balance next year's budget.
Still, with this being an election year, the fee bill may be a tough sell in the General Assembly, where many lawmakers have pledged not to raise taxes.
The last time there were wide-ranging increases in fees was in the early 1990s, when then-Gov. Zell Miller faced a budget shortfall. Miller caught grief at the time because his package included hiking driver's licenses and hunting and fishing licenses.
The oldest of the fees to be updated is a 1950s fee in which counties are assessed 4 cents per forested acre for fire protection. Under the bill, that will be bumped up to 10 cents.
The airport fee for safety inspections, set in 1978, is $10. The inspections cost the state about $400. The new proposal will likely call for the fee to go up to $100 per runway, up to $400.
Specialty license fees would probably go from $25 to $35 a year.
Gov. Sonny Perdue has worked with House and Senate leaders on the proposal, which was whittled down from about $120 million initially. His revised revenue estimate for the upcoming fiscal year includes $96 million in new fees.
About the Author
