ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The mayor of St. Charles wants citizens to help get drivers with expired temporary tags off the streets. He’s calling on them to take pictures of the Illegal tags and send them to the city, so they can pursue legal action.
“One of the primary complaints is temp tags,” Mayor Dan Borgmeyer said. “We really can’t assign officers just to handle that, so the police chief and I collaborated and came up with a plan where we’re asking people, if you’re behind a car with an expired tag, take your cell phone, take a picture of it, and we’ll have an email address that they can send it too, and then we’ll follow up on that. Then we can turn this into an administrative function instead of a police function.”
The mayor’s idea comes as the state implements a new law that may eliminate 90% of temp tags. The law would have auto dealers collect the sales taxes and presumably fold that into the cost of the vehicle.
The law went into effect on Monday but won’t be fully implemented for another two years. That’s because the department of revenue has to set up a special $120 million computer system to allow dealers to collect the tax. Dealers have been paying an extra administrative fee to pay for the new computer.
In the meantime, Mayor Borgmeyer says his approach can make a dent in the problem now.
“This way, it just becomes an administrative function. I can have a clerk send the notice out on the citation,” he said.
However, another state law that went into effect Monday bans drivers from having a phone in their hands while driving. Borgmeyer says he’s not advising motorists to take pictures while driving but instead wait until they’re stopped.
Borgmeyer expects a large turnout, saying people are motivated to nab lawbreakers. He also says a photo could be used as evidence if needed.
“Sure … no different than if you saw a bank robbery and said, ‘I saw the guy who did this.’ So, yes. And once we got the temp tag, then we find out who it’s registered to, and we take action,” he said. “We’ll probably cite him by mail, which makes it a little more of a straight function. And if they don’t respond to the citation and it becomes a whole different issue, and eventually it becomes a warrant.”