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The cost of inflation March 7 caught up with Surface Transportation Board's user fees. By adopting 2002 User Fee Update Schedule (2002 Update) for filing and processing various transportation financial transactions and other types of proceedings, the board raised some fees to offset a federal government-wide salary increase of 4.77 percent that became effective in January and higher overhead costs.
The 2002 Update maintains the same 114 fee items or sub-fee items as 2001 Update. Of the 114 fee items, 67 will rise, ranging from a $1 to $2 bump for eight items, to a $69,800 increase for processing a major railroad merger application, compared with the 2001 Update.
Meanwhile, 43 items increase $300 or less and the remaining 24 items will rise more than $300 each compared with last year. Forty-seven items remain unchanged.
The 2002 Update complies with a congressional directive, included in fiscal year 2002 transportation appropriations legislation, that enables STB to raise $950,000 in fees to cover a portion of its budget.