Charlottesville City Council considered an ordinance to eliminate the use of parking decals for cars registered in the City Monday.
Presently, the City requires that cars registered in Charlottesville display a decal issued from the City Treasurer's office to fulfill mandates from the state and to prove payment of personal property taxes, Deputy Attorney for Charlottesville Lisa Kelley said.
"There has always been a local license requirement, and if a city or county wanted to enforce their local requirements effectively, they needed some sort of physical evidence," Kelley said. "In other words, the local ordinance was passed that you couldn't be issued a decal until you paid the taxes on the car."
Vice Mayor Kevin Lynch said Virginia's new vehicle registration process allows Charlottesville to eliminate the decals.
"Under that program DMV withholds vehicle registration for individuals owning property tax rather than checking a windshield sticker," Lynch said. "We can check the license plate sticker to see if they owe money to the City."
In Monday's Council agenda, the proposed ordinance said the elimination of the decal system would be effective in Charlottesville because it would decrease financial and time-related burdens for the City.
Lynch said the implementation of the ordinance would only alleviate the stress on locals.
"It won't affect parking at all," Lynch said. "There won't be any change in fee structure. The cost of the vehicle decal will be added to the cost of personal property tax for the automobile. What will change is the convenience factor -- you only have to pay your personal property tax and not have to pay a separate bill for the sticker."
Throughout the Commonwealth, several cities and districts have dropped requirements for decals and are following formats similar to those proposed in the ordinance, Kelley said.
"It takes a lot of staff time to implement the program," she said. "There are potential monetary savings in not issuing the decal. Now instead of having local staff time and effort go into collection and enforcement, we will enlist state assistance."
Moreover, the implementation of the ordinance is especially significant because of the presence of University students in the City, according to the ordinance in Council agenda.
"Due to the large number of students and visitors originating from these areas [where decals are not issued], enforcement of City decals will be rendered all but impossible," the proposed ordinance said.
Council's alternative to passing the ordinance is to continue the present system of issuing parking decals, but the ordinance has received little opposition from Council so far.
"My understanding was that there was no significant opposition on Monday night's council meeting when it was presented to council for first reading," Kelley said.
The Council will continue to consider the parking decal ordinance at future meetings.
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