If you need something from the DMV, get there fast because fees might be going up across the board at the beginning of next year.
During a special session held Wednesday night, the state House of Representatives voted to increase all fees.
They had to, they said, so they would not have to increase train fares.
The fee for a four-year license would increase from $44 to $52. Fees would increase in all categories: cars, motorcycles, hearses, recreational trailers and taxis.
The news of increased fees came as a huge surprise to DMV Commissioner Robert Ward, who said he knows he will be getting some angry call.
"We are frankly shocked. It wasn't in the budget three weeks ago and planning for this agency has happened without these increases and we are going to bear the brunt of it," Ward said.
Reaction from drivers was mixed. Some were upset by the other fees, while others said everything costs more today.
Politics
Alison Mulcahy, of Cromwell, said her concern is increasing fees would make people not want to register their cars, and that means problems on the roads.
The overall fee increase, including non-DMV fees, would generate about $50 million over two years.
The bill will go before the Senate today. If they pass it, you will be paying more as early as Jan. 1.
The House passed four bills Wednesday, including a plan to reduce the state's 117 probate court districts to 54. But it didn't act on several bills that spell out details of the two-year, $37.6 billion budget.
House Speaker Christopher Donovan says those details are still being negotiated.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell has threatened to veto the legislation if changes aren't made.
“I will not sign a bill that does contain such increases. Although I have been willing to support fee increases in the past, and indeed I have even proposed some fee increases, I have never been willing to support fee increases and tax increases as contained in the budget,” Rell wrote in a letter issued to legislative leaders.
The Senate also needs to vote on the probate court changes, a $2.2 billion bond package and a bill that transfers ownership of certain state properties.
