Evening star., 1955-01-03
Fight Renewed
10 Keep Higher
Fees on Autos
Extra Funds Needed
For Roads. Declares
Maryland officioI
By Gene Goodwin

~ SSS1"s
The Maryland Roads comnnis-
sion has appealed to State leg
islators to retain the $6-to-$7
increase In auto registration fees
originally scheduled to take ef-
feet in the spring.
The commission today released
q letter and q set Of tables which
Its chairman, Russell n. Mccain.
sent to members of the Legisla-
ture over the week end.
One Of the first votes Of the
1855 Legislature, which conyenes
Wednesday. will come on the
question of overriding Gov. Nc
Keldin's veto Of q 1854 bill re-
pealing the scheduled auto tag
increases.
Road Program PeriIed.
Mr.. Mccain. In his letter. said
that without the higher regis
tration fees. Maryland's 12-year
highway modernization will be
adversely affected by some So
million" this year.
Necessary road improvements
already programmed for the
coming year probably viii have
to be curtailed or eliminated"
the chairman added.
The Star yesterday disclosed
that the commission plans to
continue or start new construc-
tions this year on 91.5 miles Of
highway improvement at d cost
Of $59.l million in Montgomery
and Prince Georges Counties. The
commission plans to spend about
1888 million throughout the
State during the 12-year pro-
gram, now in its second year.
The 12-year program, ap-
proved by the 1868 Legislature,
Is being financed mostly from q
penny raise In the gasoline tax
from 5 tds6 cents. which went
into effect In June, 1858, The
higher registration fees were to
finance maintenance Of the new
roads being built.
Under the 1853 bill, the SIS
license tags for smaller passen-s
ger cars were to go up to $40
this spring and the $23 tags
issued for heavier cars would sell
for $50. Truck tags would be In
creased correspondingly.
Vetoed BY Governor.
A year ago, the Democratic
majority in the Legislature, anx-
ious to take q tax-cut issue with
them into the election campaign,
pushed through a repeater. Re-
publican Gov McKeldin vetoed
It, and now the Legislature gets
q chance to override him.
Mr., Mccain pointed out that
his agency gets only so per cent
Of the gasoline tax and registra- \
tions fees. and that 80 per cent
goes to Baltimore City and 20
per cent to the % counties.
The higher registration fees
would mean an extra $1.2 mil
lion to the counties this year,
Mr.. Mccain said. The counties
can use such funds for both
highway construction and main
tenance.
The Montgomery County share
Of extra registration fee would
amount to $87.523 this year and
Prince Georges would get $75,-
203. the tables showed.
Enough Votes to Override Veto.
The Democrats have an even
bigger majority in the new Leg
islature than they did q year
ago. With a 2i-8 margin in the
Senate and 1925 in the House,
they easily have the three-fifths
majority need to override the
Governor.
A promise to override the veto
was contained in the State
Democratic platform during the
election campaign last fall. In
dividual legislators could claim,
of course. that they were elected
in their own counties and were
not bound to the State platform.
Another big veto question fac
Ing the new Legislature is the
veterans bonus. The 1854 AS
sembly passed a 500 million
bonus bill. but Gov. McKeldin
vetoed It after his Attorney
General told him the Legisla-
ture had passed it by an illegal