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- Jan 26, 2009
ALBANY - New York drivers will start paying for new license plates next year - whether they http://graphics8.nytimes....eference/ref_bubble.png) repeat scroll 0% 0%; position: absolute; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; width: 25px; height: 29px; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold;" title="Lookup Word" id="nytd_selection_button" class="nytd_selection_button">want to or not.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/n...cp=2&sq=license plates&st=cse#secondParagraph
Department of Motor Vehicles
The new, highly reflective plates will be made at a men's prison upstate.
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Beginning in April, car and tractor-trailer owners alike will have to shell out $25 for spruced-up license plates, by dictate of state leaders coming up with new ways to wring out revenue as an unprecedented budget shortfall looms.
The new plates, featuring a bold new gold hue and a highly reflective surface, will make the roads safer and "reflect New York's force and its resilience," according to the state's commissioner of motor vehicles.
They will also generate $260 million in revenue and create more than 100 jobs - at the maximum security prison where inmates make the plates for up to 42 cents an hour.
Despite such benefits, some New Yorkers say the mandatory fee is an unfair tax on drivers already facing tough times. And, they wonder, what exactly is wrong with the plates right now?
"You really don't need reflective material on your license plate with all the new cars - they've got plenty of reflectors and running lights on the side," said George J. Williams, one of several upstate county clerks who are organizing petitions against the fee. "It's really a burden. We need to take a stand for the people."
Drivers in New York have been besieged this year by a potpourri of fees. A $50 surcharge has been tacked onto registration renewals, and a driver's license renewal costs an additional $16. Car rentals now include a 5 percent tax as well.
The new $25 license plate fee, which will be phased in as drivers begin renewing their two-year vehicle registrations in April, is up from $5.50 in 2001, the last time the state went through a full plate replacement program. Other states, like California, have never charged a fee for mandatory plates.
Drivers who wish to keep the same combination of letters and numbers must pay an additional $20 (holders of vanity plates, who already pay an annual cost, are exempted). That fee is a holdover from 2001, when the state switched from a six-figure plate to a seven-figure plate; drivers paid the additional cost to maintain their six-digit number.
Officials said the new plates, dubbed Empire Bold, would help safeguard the streets, as well as the state's pocketbook. "Not every plate is worn down, but many of them are after years of usage," said Matt Anderson, a spokesman for the governor's budget office. "If a cop sees old plates, they know the person hasn't reregistered and also that they don't have new auto insurance."
But some officials in upstate New York, which lacks the mass transit options of New York City, say they are being forced to shoulder a disproportionate share of the state's money problems.
"It was the last straw, to be honest with you," said Patricia Ritchie, president of the New York State Association of County Clerks and the founder of NoNewPlates.com, a Web site that she says has attracted 56,000 visitors in less than a month.
Ms. Ritchie, who administers license plates in St. Lawrence County, said upstate residents had no choice about owning cars, unlike their downstate counterparts. "We need cars to get to schools, doctor's appointments, grocery stores," she said. "There's no other way to get around. A car is our livelihood."
The outcry has wound its way to Albany, where a state senator from Poughkeepsie, Stephen M. Saland, started his own online petition, complete with an image of a plate created by Photoshop that reads "A FIASCO." He declined to comment on Tuesday.
Last week, Gov. David A. Paterson acknowledged the anger over the issue in a radio interview, but pointed out that the state "needed the revenues." He said that, like other parts of the budget, he would be willing to entertain alternatives as long as the state made up its deficit.
In the meantime, the Auburn Correctional Facility, the maximum security men's prison that has manufactured the state's license plates since 1923, is gearing up for the new demand.
About five million new plates, double the usual number, will be produced by the inmates, who are paid 16 to 42 cents an hour for their labor, depending on experience, according to Erik Kriss, a correctional services spokesman. (Inmates can use the money at the prison's commissary or send it to family members.)
The current 100-man workforce will be expanded to 220, Mr. Kriss said, and 12 presses will be used instead of the usual 6.
Auburn, the site of the first electrocution in New York, was also home to the state's first prison manufacturing program. In 1824, inmates made brooms, stoves and whiskey barrels, Mr. Kriss said.
Production of the new plates will cost the state about $32 million over two years, according to the governor's office. The prisoners likely will not complain.
"It's skilled work," Mr. Kriss said. "The pay is better than some of the other inmate jobs."
This plus those new registration fees starting next year is ridiculous...
