Driving gets more expensive in Florida.
Florida's strained budget has opened the door to new fees for those of you that drive a car. I found an interesting article in the Sun-Sentinel that listed some recent fee increases. Adjust your budget accordingly:
These have passed and are currently in use-
$10 - New charge for noncriminal traffic infractions. These include things like running a stop sign and driving with an expired tag. This fee is in addition to the base fines charged by each county.
$25 - Increase in the civil fines for exceeding the speed limit by 15 - 29 mph. This is in addition to the new $10 mentioned above.
25 cents to $6.20 - Back in December, the state began charging for use of the 'express lanes' on I-95 in Miami-Dade County from Miami to the Golden Glades interchange (just south of Broward County). These express lanes will eventually extend to Broward Blvd. in Ft. Lauderdale. The toll varies according to how many people are using the lane. Will cost more in peak hours.
Red light cameras - More of the red light cameras are going up around South Florida. The cameras snap pictures of anyone running a red light and you will get a ticket mailed to the home address to where the car is registered. So watch out.
These are potential new fees. (Some are close to being implemented, while others are just in the 'planning' stage and may never happen.)
$30 (up from $27) - For a first-time driver's license
$20 (up from $10) - To retake a drivers' skills test.
$10 (up from $5) - To retake a knowledge test.
$45 (up from $35) - Fee to have a suspended license re-instated
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$5 (up from $2) - Processing fee for a personalized or specialty license plate.
$4 - Proposed surcharge on car rentals per day (up from $2 a day). Tri-Rail is lobbying for the increase as a way to maintain the level service they currently offer.
$3 to $3.75 - Proposed toll schedule for Alligator Alley (I-75) under the state's possible lease of the road to a private contractor. Sunpass users would pay $3 (up from $2) and those paying cash would pay $3.75 (up from $2.50).
Mileage fee - Federal and state officials are studying the feasibility of requiring drivers to pay a fee based on road usage, rather than a per-gallon gas tax. Since people are driving less, and gas prices have dropped, the Federal Highway Trust Fund is drying up. This fund is used for road repair. Since car companies are working to make cars with a higher miles-per-gallon, raising the gas tax wouldn't make up the difference. The problem I see with this solution is going to be monitoring how many miles you drive. Is each car going to have a GPS that will track it? How will you know if it malfunctions? Will you need to stop into a state-run mileage review building? That will be a mess...just like the emissions testing stations used to be.
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