Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Editorial: Decals' demise a sticky issue
Bedford must be able to identify county residents at solid waste drop-off points.
From the RoundTable blog
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Like many cities and counties across Virginia, Bedford County is considering getting rid of its annoying motor vehicle license fee decal.
The move would be welcomed by residents, who would no longer have to go through the irritating yearly ritual of scraping the old decal off and slapping the new one on.
It could also save the county about $60,000 a year -- the cost of producing and mailing out the decals. The $25 decal fee would be rolled into the personal property tax, so the county wouldn't lose the revenue.
Some residents might be upset about continuing to pay a fee for a decal they no longer receive, but most would probably be happy to pay for the privilege of no longer dealing with the decal.
But Bedford's supervisors wonder how county residents will be identified at solid-waste drop-off points when the decal goes away. A solid waste decal?
As Montvale District Supervisor Annie Pollard said, "There is no point in doing away with one decal to get another one."
The county does need to ensure only residents use its dumps and trash drop-offs. Disposing of trash is too expensive to subsidize out-of-county residents.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to windshield decals. Bedford could issue hang tags for rear view mirrors, for instance, or bumper sticker decals that would be easier to remove and replace.
As more localities across the state get rid of decals but face the need to identify the vehicles of county residents, the state of Virginia might consider a change that would help everyone out.
Many states include the county of origin on license plates. Virginia should examine the feasibility of doing the same.
Costs should be minimal -- though the state's proliferation of specialty plates might drive up the expense.
One solution could be to include the county on the license plate renewal stickers.
That won't happen in time to solve Bedford's problem, though. Officials there should consider a bumper decal or hang tag before they even think about replacing one window decal with another.
