Nov 14, 2008 10:20 am US/Central
Motorists Apparently Skip Buying City Stickers
Sticker Scofflaw Tickets Up 8 Percent From Last Year
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
Is Chicago's souring economy prompting motorists to skip buying their city stickers? Sure looks like it.
Through Oct. 31, investigators for the city clerk's office had issued 46,541 tickets to vehicles that either had an expired city sticker or no sticker at all. That's up 8 percent from the same period a year ago.
City stickers cost $75 for passenger vehicles, reduced to $30 for senior citizens. The sticker fee for SUVs went up -- from $90 to $120 -- in 2008.
Enforcement begins July 15, two weeks after the deadline. Scofflaws face a $120 fine. Stickers purchased after July 15 include a $40 late fee.
The 46,541 figure includes only those tickets written by the clerk's office. The number of tickets issued by the Revenue Department and the Chicago Police Department were not available.
All of the clerk's citations were issued to vehicles parked on Chicago streets. Investigators won't start snooping for scofflaws in city-licensed parking garages until the weather turns ugly.
"We have a limited pool of investigators. There's higher success rates on the street, so we spend most of our time there. When it becomes extremely cold in January and February, we move into the garages," Deputy Clerk Jay Rowell said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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