The fees charged to Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) Plan and Agreement participants in 2023 will be reduced by 27% compared with 2022.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced the proposal in the Federal Register on Jan. 22.
The federal agency said the fees for motor carriers and others will be reduced by $16 to $15,350 per entity, per registrant, depending on the size of the fleet.
Required reduction
When annual revenues exceed the maximum allowed under federal regulations, fee adjustments are required. If there are excess funds after payments to the states and for administrative costs, they are retained in the UCR Plan’s depository, and subsequent fees must be reduced.
The UCR Board has estimated future period collections using an average of the collections of the past three closed years. It also considered that there has been no change to the administrative authorized allowance since 2020 and recommended a modest increase in the allowance.
As a result, 2023 UCR fees will decrease for companies with up to two power units, from the current $59 to $43. For companies with 1,001 or more units, fees will lower from the current $56,977 to $41,627.
The fees collected go to participating states’ safety enforcement programs. Currently, 41 states participate.
Administrative costs rising
While the fees are going down for 2023, the costs of running the plan are going up. The UCR plan’s latest recommendation includes an increase in the amount of the administrative cost allowance from $4 million to $4.25 million for the 2023 registration year. The proposed $250,000 recommended increase is based on estimates of future administrative cost allowances needed to operate the UCR plan and agreement.
The report noted that no changes in the state revenue entitlements are recommended, and the entitlement figures for 2023 for the 41 participating states are the same as those previously approved for the years 2010 through 2022. The UCR Plan recommends total revenue to be collected not exceed $112,027,060.
The UCR plan was created by Congress in 2005 to replace the old Single State Registration Plan. Since then, it’s been administered by a 15-member board of directors. All but one are appointed from the participating states and the industry. Also on the board is the Deputy Administrator of FMCSA.
Revenues collected are allocated to the participating states and the UCR Plan. The UCR Board has stepped up enforcement of carriers that have failed to register and pay their fees.
To view FMCSA’s notice, click here.
