How much did you pay for your last vehicle sticker? If you live in Riverside, the answer is likely close to $100. But if you live in Brookfield, it may be only half that.
While each village in suburban Cook County is responsible for managing its own fees, Riverside sticks out among its neighbors when it comes to the cost of a vehicle sticker, which residents must buy every year for each car registered to their Riverside address. In Riverside, the annual price for a vehicle sticker is $90, but in nearby villages, that number ranges from up to $50 in Brookfield, Berwyn and Western Springs to as low as $30 in La Grange.
In addition to deciding the prices of vehicle stickers, villages are also responsible for determining their own fees for when residents are late. In some villages, such as Berwyn and Western Springs, the late fee is the same price as the vehicle sticker itself, meaning residents who miss the deadline have to pay twice as much. In Brookfield and Hinsdale, there is a one-time late fee that costs less than the vehicle sticker, around half as much. In River Forest and La Grange Park, the late fee goes up over time the longer a resident delays buying their vehicle sticker, capping out around $20.
In Riverside, residents who are late to buy a new vehicle sticker by Sept. 30 each year are hit with a $10 late fee for each month they waited. If you buy the sticker on Oct. 1, you have to pay $100; if you buy it Feb. 1, you owe a total of $140. On top of this growing late fee, Riverside also mails a one-time $50 citation each year to any resident who still has not renewed their car’s vehicle sticker by the spring. This year, that citation went out Friday, March 1, meaning that anyone who had not yet bought a vehicle sticker saw their outstanding balance jump to $200.
There are some exceptions to the rule — there are no fees for trailers, fees are fully waived for disabled veterans and former prisoners of war, and qualifying seniors can get 50% off by enrolling in a state program — but most Riversiders who own cars are required to pay the full vehicle sticker price each year.
Village Manager Jessica Frances said these numbers haven’t changed in more than a decade; in a phone call Tuesday, she said the vehicle sticker fee was increased to $90 before she started working for the village in January 2012. The same goes for the $50 citation for outstanding late fees.
While these numbers may seem steep, Frances said that the income generated from vehicle sticker sales — at least $500,000 each year, she said — benefits the village directly.
“Those funds do go directly into the general fund to pay for general fund-related expenses,” which include street maintenance, snow removal and other services, she said. “If there’s safety enhancements, if they’re for traffic safety — it’s just general operations within the general fund, which includes police, fire, public works [and] administration.”
Frances clarified that the village’s income from vehicle sticker sales is not “earmarked” for any specific costs; the money goes into the general fund, and funding for some of Riverside’s operations comes out of the fund.
“Riverside is very similar to our surrounding communities that do use the vehicle stickers,” she said. “These fees that are being derived are helping to pay for those different operations and maintenance of the village.”
