SAN DIEGO — The controversial ''road usage charge" will come up again before the SANDAG Board when it meets Friday morning.
However, in this case, the board is set to vote on a proposal to definitively remove this deeply unpopular 'mileage tax' from SANDAG's new regional transportation plan.
San Diegans from all political sides have come out in strong opposition to this idea of charging drivers a local fee for every mile they drive, as a way of funding transportation projects.
CBS 8 asked the chair of SANDAG directly whether this charge be part of its Regional Plan.
"I can assure you that it won't be on the 2021 or the 2025," said SANDAG Board Chair Nora Vargas.
Vargas made it clear that a road usage charge - sometimes referred to as a "mileage tax" - will not be part of SANDAG's Regional Transportation Plan.
"It is going to put it on the record that the board agrees, there is not going to be a regional road usage charge in this Regional Plan, and that's extremely important," she told CBS 8.
The item that the SANDAG board will be voting on at Friday morning's meeting will direct staff "to bring a concept for the 2025 regional plan that does not include the regional road user charge."
That charge would have charged motorists for every mile driven, as a way of raising funds for the region's infrastructure projects.
It was originally part of the 2021 Regional Transportation Plan.
After a torrent of fierce criticism from the public, though, the SANDAG board voted last September to remove the road usage charge from the 2021 Plan.
The board is set to vote separately on that amended 2021 plan next month.
"I think what is important to emphasize is that we as a board are going to be voting on this amendment in October," Vargas added. "My understanding is that the majority of the board says there is not going to be a road usage charge and so that's how we're going to vote."
Friday's vote by the SANDAG board will be specifically on the upcoming 2025 Regional Transportation Plan.
"We're encouraging people to come and speak up," said County Supervisor and former SANDAG board member Jim Desmond. He is part of a call to action for San Diegans to provide their feedback at Friday's meeting leading up to the board's vote.
"Let's get this behind us, let's move on," he told CBS 8. "It is still kind of lurking out there, and we just want to make sure that it doesn't come out again.."
Chairwoman Vargas said she welcomes the public's input
"I think it's important for folks to be engaged in the process," she said, "But the reality is, I think that once the vote takes place it will be crystal clear once and for all that there will be no road usage charge in our Regional Plan this year."
Friday's SANDAG board meeting gets underway at 8:30 a.m. For more information, including on how to provide public comment in-person or virtually, click here.
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