County decals now a thing of the past in Pulaski County
County decals are a thing of the past now in Pulaski County, but the license fee hasn’t gone away.
Monday night the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to do away with the use of a “county sticker,” which had been a requirement for county citizens owning motor vehicles and trailers since 2008.
The decal was issued to a citizen once they paid the license fee the county charges for each car, truck, motorcycle or trailer the citizen owns.
While the board voted to do away with the decals, no changes were made to the fees. License fees of $25 for cars and trucks, and $10 for motorcycles and trailers are still due on Oct. 15 of each year.
County Treasurer Melinda Worrell told the supervisors doing away with the decal is “definitely a help for everyone.”
Worrell said most citizens “didn’t even think they really needed to have them on their vehicles.”
Worrell noted that Pulaski County was one of only 14 counties and cities out of 133 in Virginia that – before Monday night – still used the decals.
She told the board some jurisdictions had gone so far as to eliminate both the decal and the license fee, opting instead to raise the real estate tax rate enough to accommodate the license fee.
Prior to voting, the board held a public hearing on the elimination of the decals. Only one citizen, E.W. Harless of Dublin, spoke to the issue.
Harless said he had no problem with eliminating the decals, but asked how things would work at the county’s large item drop sites.
“They look for that county sticker to see if you’re allowed to dump at the sites,” Harless observed. “Has the board come up with an alternative? Citizens pay enough on tipping fees, we really don’t want to pay for someone hauling trash in here from somewhere else.”
County Administrator Jonathan Sweet responded that the county had provided suggestions to the Public Service Authority Board – which governs the dump sites – on how they may identify county citizens seeking to dump when stickers are no longer used.
Sweet said the PSA took no action.
“I think we have the ability to remedy that if we feel it becomes a problem, due to the lack of a sticker,” Sweet added.
Harless responded that a problem with people from outside the county using the county’s dump sites has existed for some time already.
“Inaction costs us money and just isn’t suitable,” Harless stated.
Sweet added that the PSA was concerned that if dump site personnel don’t allow people to use the dump site “they would just find somewhere else to dump it.”
Supervisors Chairman Andy McCready noted that Deputy Jamie Radcliffe, the county’s code enforcement officer and a crew of inmates from the regional jail had found stacks of tires and other debris that had been dumped by someone illegally off the side of Robinson Tract Mountain. “It was amazing how much they found,” McCready said.
Sweet encouraged Harless to appear at the next PSA Board meeting to express his concerns to them directly.
By Mike Williams, The Patriot