SC: Glitch delays some tag renewals

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Published Thursday, July 13, 2000, in The State.

Glitch delays some tag renewals

By TIM FLACH Staff Writer

A computer glitch that held up nearly 3,000 renewal decals has led Lexington County Treasurer Bill Rowell to urge police "to be a little soft" in ticketing vehicles with recently expired license plates. The mistake means that the owners of 800 vehicles in the county whose annual renewals occurred in May and June still haven't received decals even though they paid taxes on time weeks ago.

"These people didn't have anything to do with it," Rowell said. "It's government's problem."

A change in the county's computerized tax billing that began in mid-May hasn't worked as planned, officials said.

The problems never showed up in tests of the billing change, Rowell said.

State and county officials can't explain why some vehicle transactions were affected and others were not among the 30,000 license renewals handled in those two months in Lexington County.

So far, nearly two-thirds of those whose decals were delayed have received them, said Sherri Iacobelli, a spokesperson for the state Department of Public Safety.

The problem should be cleared up by the end of the month, officials said.

Although police are aware of the problem, it is up to individual officers whether to ticket a motorist awaiting a delayed renewal decal for an expired plate, said John Allard, spokesman for the Lexington County Sheriff's Department.

Iacobelli said motorists ticketed in these circumstances "are going to be fine" if they challenge it in court.

Rowell said he has given letters explaining the situation to three motorists already ticketed.

And he's willing to go to court to argue on their behalf. "I'll be happy to stand as a witness and verify what happened," he said

http://www.thestate.com/local/docs/tags13.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), July 14, 2000


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