Solano County voters will not be asked in November whether they want to pay $10 more in car registration fees to fund road repairs and transit projects.
Directors of the Solano Transportation Authority decided Thursday to not put the proposed fee hike on the ballot this year, even though officials had campaigned for the additional funds.
"I am disappointed that the residents didn't have a say," said District 3 Supervisor James Spering of Suisun City, the county's representative on the STA board, who had urged fellow board members to put the measure on the ballot.
"We'll continue to rely on the state but, with state cuts, those projects could go away," Spering told The Reporter newspaper in Vacaville.
A series of public meetings in the weeks leading up to the vote, where many residents expressed dismay at the prospect of additional fees, apparently convinced the mayors of Solano's two largest cities to vote against the proposal.
Supervisors also commissioned a study of county voters that was inconclusive.
The vote was 5-3 in favor of the ballot measure but, under the Joint Powers Agreement that authorized creation of the STA, the proposal failed because the five directors voting yes do not represent a majority of county residents .
Vacaville Mayor Len Augustine, Suisun City Mayor Pete Sanchez and Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis were the three votes against putting the fee increase on the ballot.
The STA board is made up of the mayors from the county's seven cities and one representative from the county, Spering.
The $10 fee increase would have raised more than $3 million for transportation projects in Solano.
But Augustine said he didn't think the fee increase would be approved by county voters and didn't want the county to agree to pay for a ballot measure that was bound to lose.
"I don't think it would pass even if it was on the ballot," Augustine said. "It's the state's responsibility to pay for these projects."
The proposed fee was authorized by California Senate Bill 83, approved last year, which allowed county transportation agencies to increase the vehicle registration fee if voters agreed.
STA Executive Director Daryl Halls said agency directors waited until one day before the deadline to put measures on the ballot to allow for the most public input.
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