Paterson Brakes New License Plate Plan
Posted on Sunday, 15 of November , 2009 at 5:08 pm
ALBANY—On the eve of county clerks from around the state gathering in Albany to present their petitions in opposition to the state’s new license plate requirement, Gov. David A. Paterson has announced his intention to eliminate the mandate.
In a announcement released late Sunday afternoon, Paterson said he would kill the plan if, prior to the release of his 2010-11 Executive Budget, the Legislature works with him to identify “real, responsible, recurring alternative savings measures that will replace the revenue that would be lost and won’t increase the deficit”.
St. Lawrence County Clerk Patty Ritchie and other county clerks from across New York State are scheduled to meet in Albany on Monday at 11 a.m. on the steps of the Capitol for a press conference where they will deliver petitions to Paterson containing the names of over 100,000 New Yorkers opposed to the state’s plan to require new license plates.
Ritchie’s online petition, www.nonewplates.com, alone gathered more than 70,000 names.
“From the St. Lawrence River to Lake Erie, Syracuse and Oswego, to Staten Island and Suffolk County, New Yorkers have raised their voices in opposition to this unnecessary license plate plan,” said Ritchie, the outgoing president of the NYS Association of County Clerks.
“They’ve cried, ‘Enough!’ with the new taxes, fees, mandates and inconvenience that this license plate plan creates for their families in already difficult times.
“They’ve shared their moving stories of sacrifices they’ve had to make, and how they just can’t handle one more needless expense. We’re delivering their message to those who supported this license plate plan that the hardworking taxpayers of New York State won’t be ignored any longer,” Ritchie said.
Over 20 county clerks gathered in Herkimer County on Thursday in an emergency meeting to discuss the Governor’s and state Legislature’s mandate that all vehicle owners would have to purchase new license plates at a cost of $25.
The new license plate requirement, which is scheduled to go into effect on April 1 and is projected to produce $129 million in revenue in each of the next two fiscal years (2010-11 and 2011-12), was part of the enacted 2009-2010 budget, which was passed by both houses of the Legislature.
The State has a current-year 2009-10 deficit of $3.2 billion and a 2010-11 deficit of $6.8 billion.
“We need to act in a fiscally responsible way,” Governor Paterson said. “When elected officials call for the elimination of revenue in a budget that is already $6.8 billion in the red without offering alternatives, it is simply not responsible. If the Legislature works with me, prior to the release of the 2010-11 Executive Budget, to identify real, recurring savings that will replace the revenue that would be lost, I will eliminate the new license plate requirement.”
“County Clerks, who are coming to Albany tomorrow, are encouraged to bring alternative savings suggestions with them, which is something they have failed to do so far,” the Governor added.”
Last week, the state unveiled its new “Empire Gold” license plate which would be issued to most vehicles registered in the state, including cars, trucks, trailers, motorcycles and ATVs beginning in April.
The proposed new plate is gold in color with dark blue letters and numbers in the central part of the plate, separated by a small dark blue state silhouette. There is a dark blue banner across the length of the top of the plate, with “New York” printed in gold.
State leaders, in trying to justify the replacement of license plates, claim that they have lost their “reflectivity” but most law enforcement officials dispute that claim and say they can be read just fine and that the mandate to force vehicle owners to get new plates is no more than a revenue getter, a “license to steal”.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/11/10/new_plate/
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/10/29/license_plates/ 11-15-09
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