Fee relief wanted for small snowmobiles

ST. PAUL - Minnesota House and Senate committees have begun the process of lowering or eliminating state registration fees for small snowmobiles.
A House committee approved a bill to drop the registration costs for the snowmobiles, usually used by youths learning to ride, from $45 to $6 every three years. A Senate bill would require a one-time registration fee, but Sen. Tom Bakk, D-Cook, said he is willing to remove the fee from his bill all together.
“It seems a bit unreasonable to charge the same registration fee for those that don’t travel on trails,” Bakk said.
He said that since most of the small snowmobiles are used on private land, “there probably are a lot of them that are not registered.”
The snowmobiles have smaller engines and usually can travel no faster than 10 miles an hour.
Rep. David Dill, D-Crane Lake, said his bill is similar to that offered by Bakk and would be for small snowmobiles not used on public trails.