Ready to Ride for Next Winter (almost)

[zozo2]

This past winter provided decent riding from about Wausau north, so by trailering I had 3,140 miles of smiles and it seemed reasonable for me to once again trade in a 1 or 2 year old sled for a new one. There were some OK spring deals on sleds that remained left over, so I made the purchase right off the showroom floor on April 1, registered it on the spot, and immediately received my new registration stickers from the dealer. Ready to go??? Well, not really since the required new one-year trail passes just aren't available yet, and after researching this availability issue through dealers, clubs, AWSC, and WDNR, as predicted the procedure is still uncertain, so we have a new law and we still don't know how it is going to work! One thing for sure, law enforcement will be enforcing the new law as it was passed, so don't expect any leniency with enforcement--Act 142 was passed and it will be enforced. Some real scary things were learned, such as maybe not being able to buy a new sled at a dealership next winter and being able to legally drive it away that same day due to the trail pass thing. Also, when my new sled was registered, it has an expiration that is three years out (6-30-2018). The new law, Act 142 (Cap/Step), changes the previous 2-year registration period to 3 years. But with a registration fee of only $30.00, some simple math should be looked at, and I'll use some rounded off numbers. In the past, the $30 was spread out over 2 years which brought about $3M into the snowmobile funding program each year (200,000 registered snowmobiles X $15 each). Now, being spread out over 3 years, this means that only about $2M is going into the program each year from this formerly very stable and predictable funding source. In other words, snowmobile owners must now buy about 100,000 $10 trail passes just to get the program back to even from where we were before Cap/Step became law. Welcome to AWSC's new Cap/Step law. And oh, BTW, four of my snowmobiles that are used only locally by other family members never even had their belts and batteries installed this past winter--but I do keep them all registered. Guess how many of the annual trail passes I would not have had to purchase for this past winter or for future winters like we just had?

 

[Deleted member 10829]

Your math has one major flaw. If you are able to pay only $10 for a trail pass, that means you will have joined a snowmobile club, which will bring in on average $25 more per membership. I know, some of us already belong to a club, but the majority of us do not. If you don't join a club, that $10 trail pass becomes $30 and if you are from out of state, it will be $50. There is no doubt more money will be available than in the past, most of that coming from new club membership fees and trail pass fees.

There are already a few threads on this topic if you do a search for them.

 

[renegade]

Another thing, the law is not in effect until July. so that is most likely the biggest reason you cannot be ready to ride on April 1st for the following season. I barely have had enough time to put my four sleds away. Been to busy taking down signs, closing gates, organizing landowner appreciation parties, etc. It's time to quit complaining and deal with it. I'm confident you will have your stickers by trail opening next year.

 

[jr37]

Another thing, the law is not in effect until July. so that is most likely the biggest reason you cannot be ready to ride on April 1st for the following season. I barely have had enough time to put my four sleds away. Been to busy taking down signs, closing gates, organizing landowner appreciation parties, etc. It's time to quit complaining and deal with it. I'm confident you will have your stickers by trail opening next year.

Where's the Like button! Well said, and thank you for being an understanding member.

 

[800etec]

X2 Renegade

 

[sweeperguy]

Another thing, I'm confident you will have your stickers by trail opening next year.

If they open

 

[zozo2]

Another thing, the law is not in effect until July. so that is most likely the biggest reason you cannot be ready to ride on April 1st for the following season. I barely have had enough time to put my four sleds away. Been to busy taking down signs, closing gates, organizing landowner appreciation parties, etc. It's time to quit complaining and deal with it. I'm confident you will have your stickers by trail opening next year.

Well, I'm not sure who is complaining right now since my post merely discusses a couple of Cap/Step side issues with facts in black and white. Not complaining at all, just saying... And the math is not flawed either, its just not complete if someone wants to discuss the $10 vs. $30 fees (member vs. non-member). In my original draft I had included lots of details and discussion on this comparison, but then decided to K.I.S.S. as folks don't really like to read posts that are too long; so I decided to just use the $10 trail pass cost in the need for 100,000 trail pass sales, since it will probably be the most loyal and faithful members that purchase the trail passes first anyway. It is worthy to state, however, that when a member gets all his trail passes for $10 each, the snowmobile programs looses lots of trail pass revenue that is being paid by the non-member who must pay $30 per snowmobile. Again, not complaining, just stating the facts. And for those persons who spend lots and time and money out of their own pockets for doing all the things that the faithful members do each spring (and summer and fall and winter), such as I did for over 40 years, they deserve to receive thanks and a reduced trail pass fee. At some point they will also follow in my footsteps by passing the baton to others, to continue when the time finally comes for moving on, and being able to enjoy a retirement of choosing what they want to do and when to do it--snowmobiling during the week, trailering if we have to, and making a decision on whether or not to renew their memberships every summer/fall. So now we have to hope that Cap/Step works out, and we just have to do whatever has to be done as Wisconsin snowmobile owners work through the transition of buying registration stickers every three years and a trail pass sticker every year.