Cancel license plate plan to save money

CANTON — New Yorkers are fed up.

In a year when Albany canceled our STAR rebate checks, raised the cost of hunting and fishing licenses, increased taxes on our electric bills, car and health insurance, and hiked more than 100 other taxes and fees such as Department of Motor Vehicles fees, the plan to issue new license plates for every car, truck, trailer, motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle in the state could very well be the straw that broke the taxpayers’ backs.

North country residents are stopping me on the street, in the store, even at church, to decry this latest taxation by Albany lawmakers.

Average New Yorkers have flocked to the online petition — www.nonewplates.com — to denounce this money grab and demand relief — 50,000 strong from all across the state, including a large percentage from St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego counties.

My petition has been online for just two weeks, but the effort began more than a month ago when county clerks, Republicans and Democrats alike, stood together to unanimously oppose the license plate reissuance plan.

Since then, more than a half-dozen clerks, such as myself, Oswego County Clerk George Williams, Saratoga County Clerk Kathy Marchione, Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola and Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul, to name a few, have launched similar online and in-office petition drives.

Some of the stories and comments that are on my Web petition are simply heart-wrenching.

There’s the mother of two young boys and their soon-to-be-jobless father, who just can’t fathom where they’ll find 50 extra dollars to replace plates for two older cars that they need and use every day.

And the 80-year-old from Canton who said he’ll give up driving because he simply can’t afford the new fee, along with groceries and ever more costly medications he relies on.

And the small-business owner who’s already had to pay an extra $2,000 to register his small fleet of trucks due to increased DMV fees and now faces another $1,000 in unnecessary license plate costs.

Fans of the new plate plan, including the north country’s Sen. Darrel Aubertine and Assemblywoman Addie Russell say it’s all part of the shared sacrifice needed to pay for a spending increase in this year’s budget that was seven times the rate of inflation.

But is the sacrifice really shared? Eighty percent of motor vehicles are registered in counties outside New York City, where there is little or no mass transit, long commutes and where our cars and trucks are a vital daily necessity.

So, once again, upstate will pay for more spending for New York City.

In response to my petition, Sen. Aubertine and representatives of the governor insist that we, the clerks, find alternate ways to raise the cash that they want from the new plates.

Some might call that passing the buck, but I’ll take the bait and offer a few suggestions.

First, canceling the license plate reissuance plan itself will save millions in production and mailing costs for the 10 million unneeded new plates.

Shifting more licensing and registration work from the central DMV offices to more efficient county clerk operations could produce millions of dollars in more savings to the state and at the same time bring new revenues to counties to help hold down property taxes.

Vehicle titles could be issued from local offices, cutting postage costs on millions of mailings from Albany and provide faster service to New Yorkers.

Albany’s license plate plan lacks imagination and defies common sense. New Yorkers have had it — and they’re no longer afraid to stand up and say so.

The writer is St. Lawrence County clerk.