Local Drivers Not Happy About Fees
Ohio drivers are not happy with the new vehicle registration and license registration fees.
In the last three months, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Ohio State Highway Patrol have collected $6.4 million in license renewal fees for the Highway Safety Fund. The millions of dollars are revenue from the new $20 late fee for drivers who don’t renew their license within seven days of it’s expiration date. Prior to October, drivers had an entire month to renew their license. Now Ohio drivers feel they have been deceived.
"I think it is kind of messed up, people live paycheck to paycheck you know and it was nice to have that 30 days and now we have to worry about it for just seven," says Christopher Bryson as he left the Zanesville BMV.
"I really don’t like it too much, it is different, unexpected," tells Johnny Toombs.
The Bureau of Motor Vehicles says they placed a reminder on the BMV website, put up posters at the BMV offices and sent out reminder emails to Ohioans that registered with the online renewal system. But residents who received a late fee at the BMV on Friday say they knew nothing about the law change.
"I didn’t know a thing about it until I was, well my husband told me about it last night that it would be a higher fee," says Debbie as she left the BMV with a $20 license renewal fee.
WHIZ News spoke with State Representative Troy Balderson by phone this afternoon. Representative Balderson says he voted against the new fees and thinks the fees are unfair and were not advertised well to the public. A state representative from Wooster is sponsoring a bill to get rid of the new fees and Balderson will be co-sponsoring that bill.
Katie Jeffries
