Updated: In debt, Manassas Park to once again require residents to buy, display decals

MANASSAS PARK — Manassas Park officials are bucking a regional trend of doing not requiring its residents to post decals on their vehicle windshields.

After doing away with them in 2017, the city will once again require residents to pay for the stickers that prove they paid their city taxes, and are a city resident.

The move comes as the city is deep in debt, looking for a way to fund improvements to its water system. (Here’s the LOCAL’S ONLY investigation we did into the city’s water system last fall). City Attorney Dean Crowhurst tells Potomac Local that money collected from personal property taxes cannot be used to fund the restoration of the city’s crumbling water system.

We asked John Evans, assistant the Manassas Park City Manager about the reinstatement of the decals that caught some city residents off guard when officials posted to Facebook telling them the decals were making a return.

Why are city residents once again being asked to place decals on their vehicles?

The Governing Body adopted an ordinance to reinstate vehicle decals on June 4, 2019, following a public hearing that was held on May 28, 2019.  The decision was based on a study by the City Manager that showed that the City was losing a substantial amount of revenue each year as a result of a decision made in 2017 to remove the requirement for residents to display decals on their vehicles as evidence of having paid the required vehicle license fees.

The decision to not require the display of vehicle decals was made in 2017 based on anecdotal evidence from other, larger jurisdictions that they had not seen a noticeable loss of revenue from doing so.  It was also felt that there were other City data available for cross-checking to ensure compliance with the vehicle license fee requirement, as well as information received from the DMV.  Unfortunately, this did not prove to be sufficient.

The City Manager also found that other smaller jurisdictions, such as Falls Church and Fairfax, had retained their decals, largely because they had predicted that there would be a substantial loss of revenue.

What is the deadline for city residents to display the decals?

The new ordinance requires residents to get a new decal each year no later than October 5.  Vehicles that are purchased on or after September 5 of each year will be issued a new decal for the upcoming license year (October 6 through the following October 5); vehicles that are purchased prior to September 5 will be issued a decal for that license year and will still need to get a new decal for the new fiscal year.  Residents who move into the City have thirty days to pay their license taxes and place decals on their vehicles.

What are the city’s decal fees?

The new ordinance did not change the amount of vehicle license fees, which are as follows:

·       $30.00 for every vehicle other than a motorcycle, trailer or semitrailer—the decal should to be placed on the inside of the windshield to the right of the state inspection sticker;
·       $16.00 for every motorcycle—the decal should be placed near the state safety inspection sticker or in another conspicuous location if there is no state inspection sticker; and
·       $14.00 for every trailer, semitrailer or vehicle of like design—the decal should be placed near the state safety inspection sticker or in another conspicuous location if there is no state inspection sticker.

Provided that all property taxes have been paid on all vehicles owned by a resident, once payment of the vehicle license fee has been received by the City Treasurer, the decal will be mailed, if payment is received by mail, or can be picked up at the City Treasurer’s office, if payment is made in person.

When will decal enforcement begin?

Enforcement of the new decal requirement will start on November 15, 2019.  Information about the new decal requirement will be included with the personal property bills that will be mailed in August.

The city made an announcement on its Facebook page about the new requirements and many residents that commented on the post were surprised to hear the news.

Prince William County kept the personal property tax fee but eliminated its county decal in 2009. The move saved the county $135,000 in annual expenses, mainly the cost of producing and mailing the decal to show proof that property tax was paid.

Ten years before that, the county started mailing new decals to residents in advance, inside their annual personal property tax bills. The move eliminated the need for residents to show proof of paying their personal property taxes. The rate of delinquent personal property taxpayers reduced from 9% to 2.3% over the same time period, according to county documents produced in 2009.

Prior to its elimination, police collected $80,000 in annual revenue from citations issued to vehicle owners that did not display a valid decal.  The courts were collecting $25,000 annually in revenue from people found guilty for not displaying a valid decal.

No elected official on the Manassas Park Governing Body responded to Potomac Local when asked about why the city decal was being restored.