Zion council votes to eliminate vehicle-sticker requirement, directs attorney to amend code

The Zion City Council voted 4-0 March 4 to remove the cityvehicle-sticker requirement and authorized the city attorney to amend the Zion Municipal Code.

Administrator Naval told the council the sticker program has become costly to administer and generates far less revenue than in the past. "We used to collect about $350,000 every two years, and it's down to about $85,000 every two years," Naval said. He told the council the administration wanted direction before existing stickers expired on April 30 so the city would not order new supplies.

The motor fuel tax and street-and-bridge funds are separate from the general fund, Naval said, and the vehicle-sticker program itself had become largely a revenue item rather than an enforcement tool. "All of the cons . . . are still valid that go along with this as far as just additional cost, administrative burden, compliance challenges, inconvenience, privacy concerns," he said.

Police leadership said removing the requirement is unlikely to change how the city enforces overnight parking. "No, sir. So overnight parking is specific to 2 to 6," Chief Barton said, explaining that the sticker program does not drive overnight-parking enforcement.

Councilmember Fisher moved to authorize the attorney to draft code changes removing the sticker requirement; Commissioner McDowell seconded. The clerk called the roll and recorded four ayes, and the motion carried.

Council members said they supported the change in part to reduce costs and reallocate staff time to higher-priority enforcement and services. Naval estimated the city spends roughly $10,000 on stickers and related materials every cycle and noted the city has developed other revenue streams to offset the loss.

The city attorney will prepare an ordinance to amend the code and return it to council for formal adoption; the council gave the staff direction rather than adopting an ordinance on the spot.