RTC briefs Ward 3 on ballot advisory asking legislature to allow EV registration fee amid $1.4B regional road funding gap

The Regional Transportation Commission briefed the Ward 3 advisory board on a proposed November advisory question that would ask voters whether the legislature should authorize a registration fee for electric and hybrid vehicles and index that fee for inflation. Paul Nelson, RTC government-affairs officer, said the advisory is nonbinding and would direct the Legislature on whether Washoe County voters support such a change. "This will ask voters if they want the legislature to pass a bill that would add a registration fee for electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles and then also adjust it for inflation every year," Nelson said.

Nelson framed the proposal as one of several options to close a long-term funding shortfall for road preservation. He said RTC has an estimated $1.4 billion shortfall over 10 years for road maintenance and capital projects driven by rising costs and changing fuel consumption. The Gwin Center and polling work by FM3 showed public support for an enhanced registration-fee model; Nelson said polling found roughly 61% of respondents favor some fee. RTC displayed examples of projects it has funded and plans to fund—pavement-preservation programs, Virginia Street BRT upgrades, Mill Street work, the Biggest Little Bike Network, and the Pembroke Drive widening among others—and said neighborhood-level planning and quick-build safety projects will continue.

Board members asked for more granular neighborhood plans and details for projects in Ward 3 (signal timing, pedestrian crossings and tree planting to reduce heat). Nelson said RTC will return with deeper neighborhood-level details and noted the agency is deploying intelligent-transportation systems and signal upgrades to improve synchronization and safety.