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Residents of Electric City will soon be in a new Transportation Benefit District, which will cost them $20 per vehicle owned.

The measure was voted in last Tuesday night by the city council. The new provision was developed by Senate and House Bill 1858, which empowers cities, towns and counties to collect the fee.

The money will eventually go into Electric City’s street fund, running short on funds ever since Initiative 695 in 1999 removed the huge vehicle licensing fees charged by the state.

Those fees also supported local street funds.

Mayor Jerry Sands admitted that the $20 fee for vehicles inside the city would be an unpopular issue, but stated that the city’s street fund had decreased some $200,000 since the city no longer receives the supporting money from the state.

The new law allows fees up to $100 per vehicle, but anything over $20 has to be supported by a vote of the people.

Sands stated that if the city doesn’t develop its transportation benefit district, then the county could and keep the full $20.

The new fee will raise some $25,000 a year for the city’s coffers.

The city council will also serve as the Transportation Benefit District board of directors, meeting separately from the council with its own bank account. The board will vote the collected fees to the city’s street account.

The public will get a full airing of the new district at a public hearing yet to be set by the city.