No lifetime vehicle stickers for Lombard seniors

Seniors may get deals at movie theaters and restaurants, but they won’t be getting any special treatment when it comes time to purchase their already-discounted Lombard vehicle stickers.

A proposal to charge people ages 65 and older a one-time fee of $21 for a lifetime vehicle sticker was stalled at Thursday night’s Lombard village board meeting.

The lifetime sticker would have replaced yearly stickers costing $3 a year for residents 65 and older and $15 a year for those younger than 65 who drive normal passenger vehicles.

Trustee Greg Gron moved to approve an ordinance that would have implemented the $21 senior sticker in spring 2012, but no other trustee seconded his motion. Trustee Bill Ware countered with a motion to deny the ordinance, but once again, no one seconded it.

Gron’s finance committee recommended the new one-time fee for seniors to save them a trip to village hall and save staff time. While it’s possible to buy vehicle stickers online, 70 percent of seniors bought them in-person last year, according to Finance Director Tim Sexton.

“It would relieve the seniors of having to think about it every year knowing that they have to make a trip over (to village hall),” Gron said. “The sticker would last until they stop driving.”

Sexton said finance department staff members proposed the idea to the finance committee to streamline a senior vehicle sticker process he called “very inefficient” in a memo. The 3,820 stickers sold to seniors in 2010 brought in $11,460, but after accounting for staff time and the $1.85 cost of mailing, processing and providing each sticker, the village only made $4,400 in net revenue, he said.

Village President Bill Mueller said he was unsure why trustees would not support the lifetime sticker for seniors. But without a vote taken the idea remains on the back burner, he said.