An increase in the snowmobile registration fee was killed by the legislature’s IFW Committee, after a lengthy discussion.
The bill would have increased the registration fee by $30, if the snowmobiler did not belong to a snowmobile club. Legislators recognized that the club membership would be difficult to verify at the town offices where snowmobiles are registered. $20 of the fee would go to the trail fund.
The committee also discussed possibly raising the fee for all snowmobile registrations. And there was recognition that we need more volunteers to maintain trails.
The Maine Snowmobile Association opposed the bill, and the group’s director, Bob Meyers, told the committee that lots of changes were made two years ago and a lot more money was now going to the clubs. Bob reported that Maine has 14,000 miles of snowmobile trails and 300 snowmobile clubs, and about $5 million now goes to clubs and trails.
The committee voted 9 to 1 against the bill.