Vehicle registrations in Utah County will cost an additional $10 starting July 1, with the proceeds set aside to purchase road rights of way.

The surcharge is expected to raise at least $2.6 million a year for "corridor preservation" so that "highways of regional significance" can be built, according to a resolution of support signed by 21 area mayors.

Utah County commissioners unanimously approved the fee Tuesday.

Since they beat an April 1 deadline, the county is also eligible to share $10 million in matching funds available from the state. Salt Lake, Davis and Wasatch counties are also looking into instituting the fee.

Legislation passed in 2005 allows counties to collect the fee and dedicate it to road corridor preservation.

Local and state officials have stressed the importance of road corridor preservation, especially in fast-growing areas like Utah County. It's usually less expensive to purchase rights of way as soon as possible -- before land prices escalate or corridors are eaten up by construction.

The $2.6 million figure is based on 2004 registrations of more than 261,000 vehicles in the county.

The Mountainland Association of Governments, which includes Utah, Wasatch and Summit counties, is currently studying which corridors will be needed, said regional planning director Dan Nelson.

Another plan has already identified work that needs to be done to get ready for the reconstruction of Interstate 15. Nelson said the "roads that we don't have up to speed" include Redwood Road, Geneva Road, Highways 73 and 89, 1000 South in Lehi and 2000 West in Pleasant Grove.

"I don't think we have enough seasoning on it yet to know how that list would be prioritized," he added.

The registration fee won't raise much money when compared to right of way costs, which can run into tens of millions of dollars. There's additional money available from the state, Nelson said, adding that "even though this is a small amount, it could be looked at as a revenue stream to bond against."

At Tuesday's meeting, commissioner Steve White complained about the lack of support for a quarter-cent sales tax that was proposed a couple of years ago that was projected to raise $15 million a year for corridor preservation.

The vehicle registration fee "is a paltry pittance compared to that kind of money," White said.

Some mayors objected to that tax, Nelson said, because of concerns about how it would be spent -- the funds could've gone for transit projects, not just roads -- and because they felt there wasn't enough time to build public support for the referendum needed to approve it.