Arlington Heights to step up vehicle sticker enforcement

Starting this month, Arlington Heights officials will begin ramping up their enforcement of the village vehicle sticker requirement that will target nearly a quarter of residents identified as scofflaws.

The village plans to send letters this month and in April to thousands of drivers believed to be forgoing the annual purchase of a $30 village sticker, as revenues collected continue to decline.

"We owe it to those people who are buying stickers and following the law as opposed to the 23 percent who aren't," Mayor Tom Hayes said during a village board committee of the whole meeting Monday night.

Under rules suggested by the village staff and reviewed by the board Monday, the village will maintain its $10 late fee from Jan. 1 to March 14. But the fee will increase to $30 on March 15 - and it will state as much on notices sent to those identified as scofflaws.

A final notice will be sent in June - along with a ticket and date to appear for an administrative adjudication hearing at village hall.

A hearing officer could set a fine of $50 to $750, and if that isn't paid, it will go to collections.

If a sticker is purchased before the hearing, the village will withdraw the ticket, said Finance Director Tom Kuehne.

Village staff members plan to cull data from Illinois secretary of state vehicle licensing records and match it against the village's existing vehicle sticker database, then send out the initial batch of notices.

Kuehne admitted some of that information may be outdated - for instance, if a car has been sold or disposed of - but the village notices will ask residents to call village hall if there are discrepancies.

In 2018, the village sold 44,305 stickers - a 14 percent decline from 2006.

Doing a rough estimate, village officials believe 77 percent of drivers in town are in compliance.

Anecdotally, they say they've heard from some who have gotten tickets but still didn't plan to buy the sticker, thinking they won't get caught again and could save money.

"We're suggesting we need better follow-up and some teeth to the enforcement," Kuehne said.

Board members as early as last summer talked about stepping up enforcement of the sticker program.

Eliminating vehicle stickers, which brought in $1.2 million last year, would mean a likely 3 percent property tax increase or 0.75 percent increase in the food and beverage tax, officials said.

They estimate they could reap $200,000 more through the latest code enforcement action.

"What's fair is fair, and what's wrong is wrong," said Trustee Jim Tinaglia, who has six vehicle stickers among his family members.

"Why would we want to have everybody pay more property taxes or pay a little more for their groceries because I have six dopey cars?"

Village officials plan to get the word out about the stepped-up enforcement on the village website and social media channels.

Trustee Robin LaBedz said as a part of that, it's important to let people know why the village is cracking down on scofflaws - the lost revenue could be used to resurface streets, for example.

"We're not doing this because we like to have nice-looking stickers on people's cars," LaBedz said.