How Much Does It Cost To Register A Snowmobile In Massachusetts

Area sportsmen volition have to scrape together a few actress bucks to register their boats, ATVs and snowmobiles this year, thanks to a new state fee on recreational vehicle registrations.

The new surcharge, which will cost snowmobilers, ATV riders and many boaters an extra $four every two years, caught some sportsmen by surprise when it went into effect Sept. 1.

Larry McCullough, a Leicester resident and member of the Easy Riders Snowmobile Club of Marlboro, said he hadn't heard any talk of the new surcharge until information technology had already gone into effect.

"It just doesn't make sense that they snuck that through without everyone knowing nigh it," Mr. McCullough said. "They seem to have this idea that they can keep increasing fees and increasing fees and nobody'southward going to balk."

The new surcharge was added to the state budget in the Senate last twelvemonth and is the first hike in recreational vehicle registration fees since 2003, said Amy Mahler, a spokeswoman for the country Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

The surcharge will get to a newly created Massachusetts Environmental Constabulary Trust Fund under the control of the secretary of energy and ecology affairs. The fund will pay to train and equip new environmental constabulary officers and to maintain their role, Ms. Mahler said.

New surcharges on tickets written by environmental police officers and on environmental police officer individual details also will go into the trust fund, according to the legislation.

The 10 percent recreational vehicle surcharge hikes snowmobile and ATV registrations from $40 to $44.

The increment is the same for boats under 16 feet in length, more for larger boats. For boats over 40 feet, for instance, fees go upwardly from $100 to $110.

Nathalie G. Grady, executive managing director of the Massachusetts Marine Trades Clan, said the group doesn't welcome any increased fees on recreational boaters, but information technology is pleased, at least, that the new fees will go to back up ecology police enforcement and the protection of natural resource.

Roughly 138,000 boats and 14,000 snowmobiles are registered in Massachusetts, Ms. Mahler said. They must be registered every two years under state law. The new surcharge is expected to raise more than than $600,000 over the next two years equally boat and snowmobile registrations expire and are renewed at the new charge per unit.