Budget seeks help from ATV riders

By Paul Ertelt
Ottaway News Service
peottaway@aol.com

Albany – Gov. George Pataki is targeting all-terrain vehicle riders again.
His executive budget calls for an increase in the annual ATV registration fee from $10 to $45. The governor proposed the same increase last year, but lawmakers killed it.
"It's kind of the same old song, and I don't think it has much of a chance," said Richard Earle of the Franklin All-Terrain Riders.
It isn't just the increase that bothers Earle. It's also the fact that ATV owners will receive little benefit from the heftier fees, he said.
The Pataki administration estimates that the increase would generate $5.8 million in fiscal 2005-06, but only $850,000 of that money would be used to develop and maintain ATV trails. The rest would go into the state's general fund.
The $10 registration fee has been in place since 1986. Last year, nearly 130,000 ATVs were registered in New York, up from about 75,000 in 2001, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
ATV owners visiting from other states have not been required to register here, but they would be subject to the same $45 fee under the governor's plan.
The governor's proposal would also limit the use of ATVs on forest preserve land in the Adirondack and Catskill parks and on other state lands. ATV restrictions are already included in the Adirondack and Catskill master plans, but those regulations do not have the force of law.
The ATV fund would be used to develop and maintain trails on "environmentally appropriate" private property, land owned by local governments and some land on which the state Department of Environmental Conservation holds easements. Some of the money would also be used for enforcement and education.
The governor's plan is designed to increase opportunities for New York's growing number of ATV riders while mitigating some the problems caused by improper ATV use, according to a memo in support of the budget.
"Illegal ATV traffic on public and private land in the state has increased and caused significant environmental degradation," the memo said.

 

like u said total B.S.
only need it for trail pass which is upstate so no need for me to reg
the spend alot of money on bike paths that run all through westchester
but no motorized vehicles more bs

 

IBM huh you over by somers

 

Fishkill corporate office

 

cool,u should check out the sat night races in middletown (thunderdome) every sat until 2nd week of feb
its good shiiit
gonna be racing next week if i get my quad back together

 

In the orange county fair grounds? That track is BS if you have the front left inside you pretty much automatically won; that thing is small as hell.

 

Well, looks like it is time to write some letters to the state legislature! De3thshadow, do you have a specific article/link to your info? I would think if those numbers are correct, then there is only one way to explain the sudden increase of 55,000 registerded units in two years. One word- Trailpass! New York has an oppurtunity to make some real money by spending money and setting up some decent trail systems. Also it is ludicrous to charge a registration fee to out of state riders if there quad is already registered in another state. Wait, maybe we should do that with all motorized vehicles. That way we could put the screws to anyone wanting to travel to and from the New England states. All right, now I am upset. mumblemumblemumble New York State mumble.

 

Actually we already do screw out-of-state drivers. It is called the NYS Thruway

I don't think PA has an ATV registration reciprocal agreement with NY. A NY rider needs PA reg too. I guess that is fair in that PA is supporting ATV's with riding areas, so we should pay into it if we elect to ride on their public properties.

NYS sucks though. There was a paragraph in the Buffalo News about this, as part of Pataki's budget story. Kick in more money, and take away state riding areas. Somebody has to tell me what areas these are, cause in WNY there is no state land to ride on. So taking away zero land isn't going to hurt me I guess. A guy at work showed me a map of state sponsored snowmobile trails in WNY. Geez, there had to be up to 500 miles at least. Incredible!!! ATV'ers get squat, or criticism only as ATV is "always tresspassing vehicle". Not totally my fault. I pay, give me land!!

"The governor's plan is designed to increase opportunities for New York's growing number of ATV riders while mitigating some the problems caused by improper ATV use, according to a memo in support of the budget." Somebody show me the opportunity. I pay more, get no land, and that mitigates the problem. Amazing!!!!

 

I don't mind paying $45.00/yr to the state, but they better put in a ton of public access trails to justify the increase and it just isn't going to happen. In '86/7 when they instated the $10.00 fee there were promises all up and down of benefits to riders. Almost 20 years later I basically have to go to PA to ride a decent trail system anyway due to those broken promises. Heck, I've been out of the sport since '90 because I didn't have any place left to ride and only got back in it due to places like Rocky Roost and Majestic Trails opening up plus Trail Pass getting off the ground. I wish the state could see there are a ton of atv owners in our state that don't register their equipment because there is really no current benefit to us. With Trailpass in operation, now there is a benefit, and reggies have almost doubled in 2 years! Oh well, at least West Virginia gets it, maybe we will stop being backwards someday and join them.

 

Scoot, you sum it up pretty good. I've gone to either Majestic Trails, or my sister has like 30 acres. 30 isn't diddly for ATV'ing only. I plan on joining Trailpass and go to as many dice runs as I can for 2005. You know what the shame is? I had the Blaster out 3 of the last 4 nights just around my house goofing around in the snow. I had not ridden in like 10 weeks, and you realize how much fun it is and how much you miss it. Just seem to put so much money into this for so little riding time. It is always 1-2 hours from my house to go riding any where. It's inconvenient.