Two bills filed by Austin lawmakers could give Travis County the authority to increase vehicle registration fees by $10 to fund transportation projects. Identical legislation—Senate Bill 579 and House Bill 1432—filed by state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, and state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, respectively, would give Travis County authority to add up to an additional $10 annually to the vehicle registration fee. The county would also be able to ask voters to increase fees by $20. With an estimated 1.1 million vehicles registered in the county that would be affected, the additional fees could bring in $10 million–$20 million annually, Howard said. “We have been given very few options at this point,” she said. “The state has been unable to come up with sufficient options for our area.” Watson said approval of the bill does not automatically increase the vehicle registration fee but merely gives Travis County the option to do so. “I understand that some folks may be leery about raising a new fee, but our region’s traffic congestion will only get worse unless we make a serious investment in transportation,” Watson said. “We have to consider every available option to reduce congestion, and this fee is one option that Travis County should have at its disposal to generate much-needed revenue.” Before the county could implement the additional fee, commissioners would work with the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority to create a list of projects that would be funded with the revenue, Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said. “We wouldn’t want to go into it blindly,” she said. “Certainly CTRMA would like to see new toll roads, but … the court would have leverage in how the money would be spent.” Eckhardt said raising the vehicle registration fee will help maintain the state highway system that the state has essentially stopped funding. “The locals have to start funding it,” she said. “Our only local option now is property taxes and toll revenue. Both of those are rather unattractive. Property tax are overprescribed and burdensome, and toll taxes are high and getting higher.” Travis County could become the sixth county in Texas to use this local option for funding transportation. Other counties currently using the fee option are Bexar, Cameron, Hidalgo, El Paso and Webb. “It gives us one more tool and can be determined locally and not be dependent upon other parts of the state,” Howard said. Howard said another option the legislature could consider is Gov. Greg Abbott’s idea of using a portion of the motor vehicle sales tax to help bridge a $4 billion gap in transportation funding. However, Howard said she has concerns about using existing revenue that funds other state departments. “If we’re dependent on using current revenue streams and not finding new revenue, that’s robbing Peter to pay Paul,” she said.