Town, County mailing out new vehicle decals with tax bills

FRONT ROYAL – When Front Royal and Warren County residents receive their first-half 2018 personal property tax bills in late April/early May, they will find a little something extra tucked inside the envelope.

Front Royal Town Manger Joe Waltz confirmed earlier this week that Town taxpayers will find a shiny, new replacement vehicle decal enclosed with the first-half tax bills that will soon be mailed out to residents. County Administrator Doug Stanley stated previously that Warren County residents would also receive new decals in their tax bills.

The reissue of decals is necessary after a December, 2017 memo from the Virginia State Police stating Virginia state inspection stickers will no longer be affixed to the bottom center of a vehicle’s windshield.

State inspection stickers are being relocated to the bottom left corner of the windshield (in front of the driver’s seat). The relocation stems from automobile manufacturers now offering crash avoidance technology in many of their vehicles, which uses the center of the windshield.

The Warren County and Town of Front Royal vehicle decals will also be relocated to the bottom left corner of the windshield to the immediate right of the inspection sticker when viewed from inside the vehicle.

As vehicles are inspected throughout 2018, vehicle owners may ask the inspection station employee to place the decal in its new location at the same time as the Virginia inspection sticker is placed.

Warren County’s decision to provide new decals at no charge is driven by its operation of trash compactor sites reserved for use by county residents. Display of the county decals on windshields provides an easy and efficient way to identify visitors to trash sites as county residents. As county residents, town citizens also can use those sites with the proof of town residence town decals provide.

County Administrator Doug Stanley stated at a January 18 Front Royal-Warren County Liaison Meeting that solid waste tonnage and corresponding disposal costs had decreased significantly when full-time monitoring at the county’s trash compactor sites was implemented.

The Town’s decal renewals are primarily used to monitor that citizen tax payments remain current and as a revenue stream. According to a memo from the county Commissioner of the Revenue there are 29,372 tagged vehicles in the county and another 14,183 inside the town limits.  Those vehicles translate into about $870,000 in annual revenue from vehicle licensing fees for Warren County and about $350,000 for the Town.

A Virginia State Police Safety Division media release states that certified inspection stations began relocating inspection stickers on Jan. 1, 2018. The new municipal decals must be placed in the new location, per Virginia code, by December 31, 2018.