Villa Park to consider vehicle stickers

Villa Park residents may soon have to pay more just to own a car or truck.

The village board next week is expected to discuss a trustee's plan to revive vehicle stickers in town.

"It's not a popular position, but it is revenue," Trustee David Hegland said. "It's honest revenue whereas red-light cameras are not. They're really not onerous."

Village officials last considered reinstituting vehicle stickers in 2005. At the time, it was estimated that a $25 fee per standard passenger car or truck, along with varying charges up to $75 for other vehicles, would generate roughly $270,000 a year for village coffers. Trustees wanted to use the money to maintain the village's fleet of vehicles.

Instead, officials decided to pursue a half-cent-on-the-dollar increase in the village's portion of the retail sales tax, which voters approved in March 2006.

Hegland said he believes the return of vehicle stickers will help clean up the village. Specifically, it would help the village spur residents to get rid of abandoned vehicles, he said.

"It's one more lever to mitigate that problem," Hegland said. "Every little bit helps. You've got to do anything you can to make it inconvenient to be noncompliant."

The village sold vehicle stickers years ago but dismantled the program in 1995 because of the high in-house costs of running it. The program proposed in 2005 would have been handled by an outside firm that would have charged an estimated $20,000 per year for administration and sticker costs.

Trustee Richard Illian and Village President Joyce Stupegia both opposed the vehicle sticker proposal in 2005.

"We'll see what the trustees have to say," Stupegia said of the new proposal.

The vehicle sticker discussion is expected to happen Monday, Sept. 15, during a workshop meeting at village hall, 20 S. Ardmore Ave. The board will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the board room.

If trustees agree to move ahead with the idea, an official vote to adopt a vehicle sticker program still would be needed during a formal board meeting.