The three county commissioners at their Wednesday morning meeting continued to explain the proposed $5 fee to be added onto most drivers' registration fees.

In addition to paying to replace three bridges in the county, the fee will initiate a $2 million state transportation grant. It will also demonstrate the county's commitment to transportation projects, which could improve its chances of receiving a $25 million federal BUILD grant.

All those funds would add up to a completed Route 228 improvement project and help for several townships and boroughs in the county that don't have the funds to complete much-needed road and infrastructure projects.

Commissioner Kevin Boozel opposed the fee when it came up last year, but said he is now in favor because it could help return state and federal tax dollars to the county.

“It's not taking dollars from you, it's an investment to get more of your money back,” Boozel said.

He said the safeguards built into the fee ordinance also helped push him toward favoring the fee.

Those safeguards include prohibiting the increase of the fee, eliminating it after 10 years, exempting retirees who earn less than $19,500 per year, and making public annual reports and specific expenditures of the money.

Boozel said if the $25 million BUILD funds fall through, he will “scream his head off” to have the fee repealed.

“It's like chewing rusty nails,” Boozel said of adding another fee onto the county's vehicle registration costs. “If (the BUILD grant) doesn't work, I invite every resident to come to our public meetings and give us a thrashing.”

Commissioner Kim Geyer said more than 11,600 businesses use Route 228 to ship $27.5 million in commodities on the highway each year. She said Route 228 is mostly a two-lane highway and some portions have not been resurfaced since 1993.

Geyer said infrastructure improvements on more rural highways like Route 38 will mean development, which leads to commercial tax revenue and less tax burden on residential taxpayers.

“We're one of the lowest counties in taxes because we continue to develop,” Geyer said.

Kevin Gray of the county's planning department added that many rural municipalities would begin to see pavement on roads that were always tar and chip, and aging one-lane bridges could be replaced by modern two-lane bridges and roads that attract development.

Commissioners Chairman Leslie Osche said the entire length of Route 228, from the cracker plant being built in Beaver County to the barges on the Allegheny River in Freeport, needs improvement to accommodate those industries.

“If we don't go through that window now, it could close in as few as two years,” Osche said.

The commissioners are expected to vote on the fee at the July 18 meeting.