User Fees in North Carolina - Coursework Example

Although in the US, most states use user fees as their sources of revenue, the fees often vary from one state to another.

Just as any other state in the United States of America, North Carolina also relies on user fees as one of its major sources of revenue. The major user fees collected by the state of North Carolina include recreational and cultural activities fees, solid waste collection and disposal fees, parking fees, and highway tools (Lawrence and Millonzi, 2008).

Solid Waste Collection and Disposal Fees. This fee is charged by the local government for the collection and disposal of solid wastes. The fees charged under this include basic service fees, additional or special service charges, solid waste container fees, and collection bag charges (Lawrence and Millonzi, 2008).

Recreational and Cultural Activities Fees. These are fees charged to those who visit recreational and cultural programs such as art galleries, museums, parks, coliseums, and libraries. The main fee charged in these programs is the admission charge. However, in public libraries, the residents are not charged the admission fee but penalty fees for overdue materials. The state uses these charges or fees to maintain these programs (Lawrence and Millonzi, 2008).

Parking Fees. Parking fees are charged on all parking spaces provided by the state of North Carolina. The fees are either charged on a long-term or short basis and vary from one county to another. The revenue obtained from these charges is used by the state to support all operating costs (Lawrence and Millonzi, 2008).

Highway Tolls. Highway toll fees are charged on every vehicle that uses highway state roads. The charges vary depending on time, collection point, and the size of the vehicle.  Revenue collected from these charges is used by the state for the maintenance of these roads (Lawrence and Millonzi, 2008).

Although this paper has only discussed four user fees collected from the public by the state of North Carolina, there are several of them. The fees vary from one county to another and they can be changed by each county from time to time. However, although the charges vary from one county to another, it is the state that governs these charges in each county.