Ohio drivers who fail to renew their licenses on time would no longer be subject to a $20 late
fee, but they would pay more for vehicle titles under the governor’s proposed transportation
budget.

Thomas P. Charles, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, told lawmakers yesterday
that the State Highway Patrol has major funding challenges. For years, state leaders have struggled
to find a long-term funding stream for the patrol, which in the past two years stopped more than
46,000 motorists for drunken or drug-impaired driving and made nearly 11,000 drug arrests.

To help fund the patrol, Gov. John Kasich is proposing a $10 increase in vehicle title fees on
top of the current $15 fee. Charles gave lawmakers a chart that surveyed title fees in 27 states
and found that the average base fee was about $32. The average jumps much higher for other states
if figures include lien fees, inspection fees and other fees Ohio does not charge.

“Still, I think that places Ohio in a competitive position as it relates to other states,” said
Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield, who is shepherding the bill. “I would like to find that funding
stream for the patrol that we as a body can understand and then take back and explain to our
constituents.”

Democrats immediately took note of the fee hike. “Republicans gave us a lot of hell the last
time for raising some of these fees,” said Rep. John Patrick Carney, D-Clintonville.

Carney did not say he opposed the increase, but noted, “It’s surprising since so many of them
signed ‘no new tax’ pledges that in their first budget, you’ve got a tax increase, essentially.” He
hoped Republicans carry that same open mind when the two-year operating budget is introduced in
March.

Asked whether some in his caucus would resist the fee increase, Speaker William G. Batchelder,
R-Medina, said, “We’re getting rid of some fees and creating

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