WASHINGTON -- It's not the125-percent hike that was originally proposed, but many carriers will pay nearly double as much for Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) fees.

For large carriers (over 1,000 straight trucks or tractors) the annual levy for the calendar year beginning Jan. 1, 2010 jumps from $37,500 to $73,346.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration backed down slightly from its original proposal of $83,412 for carriers in this group.

For other freight forwarders, brokers, leasing companies and fleets, the fee ranges from $76 (less than two trucks) to $7,511 (101-1,000 units). Carriers in between will pay $1,576 (21-100 trucks); $452 (6-20 trucks); and $227 (3-5 trucks).

The FMCSA says it had to increase fees in order to come up with the $113 million necessary to provide states with the revenues they received under the previous Single State Registration System.

When the fee hike was first announced, carriers complained that the 'eye popping" increase was too high in these recessionary times, especially since, as the Canadian Trucking Alliance noted, many deficiencies in the system for assigning and collecting fees from carriers remained.

In some cases carriers under-report the number of qualifying vehicles in order to move into a lower fee bracket. Others don't register at all. While 80 percent of fleets with over 100 trucks have registered under UCR the compliance rate for brokers and single truck operators ranges between 20 and 40 percent.

There are also inconstancies in states’ collection efforts where carriers who comply with the law are effectively subsidizing those that are able escape detection by some lax states.

The CTA and the American Trucking Associations urged FMCSA not to implement the fee at least until the agency took "adequate steps have been taken to address deficiencies" in the collection of UCRA fees.

In an interview with todaystrucking.com this morning, CTA’s Ron Lennox said he hasn't seen much information to indicate regulators have taken such steps.

"Frankly, I don't really see very much that's concrete in the final rule," he says. "They've said that some states have come forward to increase their compliance efforts to collect these fees but I don't have any details on that.

"I guess they've told us to take it on faith that the states are going to do a better job…we're gong to have to see."

One bright spot in the final rule, though, is trailers have been removed from the fee calculation. That would shift plenty of carriers into a lower fleet size bracket and thus reduce the bill.

Carriers who still remain in same bracket will see fees increase substantially, however.

Fleets will begin paying under the 2010 structure almost immediately (2010 UCR registrations will be available on May 3rd, 2010).

The FMCSA had previously wanted states to begin collecting a "placeholder" fee even before the pricing structure was set, but the governing board that oversees the UCR agreed with carriers that a two-step collection effort would be confusing and in March voted to overrule the agency.