College Tags Are Favored In County, State
Tax Assessor/Collector Linda Shuffield and Clerk Emily Childs display a few of the 120-plus special plates available. – Photos by Jack Gurner
Circuit Clerk Daryl Burney displays (displays on his car) this special plate which helped raise $18,000 for conservation education last year. – Photo by Jack Gurner
Reporter
WATER VALLEY – Missis-sippi folks have been putting license plates on their vehicles for the past 98 years. And for some, plain old numbers just won’t do.
That’s why nearly a quarter of the 2,660,398 vehicle registrations during the previous fiscal year were for special issue plates.
In Yalobusha County about 27 percent of those registering vehicles requested special plates during the past year. That’s 3354 out of 12,327 registrations in the county.
Many of the 120-plus special plates add $31 to the price of registering a vehicle. But, a few – such as street rods, colleges and universities – add $51, according to Tax Assessor/ Collector Linda Shuffield.
That amount is added to the registration fee and all other taxes that are based on the type of vehicle, the value, and where you live.
Among the most popular tags are those for Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Statewide MSU fans purchased 14,267 special plates, while Ole Miss fans purchased 13,649.
Ole Miss plates were more popular than State’s in Yalobusha County, selling 82 for Ole Miss to 35 for State. All other Mississippi schools accounted for the sale of 44 special plates in the county.
The school named on the plate receives $32.50 of the $51 fee. The remainder of the money is divided between the State Highway fund ($14), the Tax Collector Commission ($2.50), the Mississippi Burn Center ($1), and the Department of Archives and History ($1).
Even out of state universities have Mississippi special plates. Fans of Louisiana State purchased 1400 plates; University of Alabama fans, 1058; University of Memphis, 630; and Auburn, 531.
In Yalobusha County only three out of state tags were sold and they were all for the University of Memphis. The out of state schools don’t share in the fees. The biggest chunk ($44) goes to the state’s general fund.
Next in popularity are the wildlife plates at $31, with sales totaling 34,958 statewide. Most popular was the deer (9,453) followed by the butterfly (6060) and the hummingbird (5947).
In Yalobusha County the most popular was also the deer (33), the butterfly (23), and hummingbird (22). The Wildlife Heritage Fund gets $20 from each plate sale.
Retired armed forces plates accounted for 34,965 sales statewide and 144 in Yalobusha County. A portion of the $31 fee goes to either the Veterans Affairs Board or the Veterans Nursing Home.
NASCAR fans purchased 13,866 plates statewide and 95 in the county. The majority of those funds ($24.25) went to the Department of Archives and History. NASCAR gets $4.90 for generic plates and 70 cents for driver plates.
For those who can’t find a special plate that suits them from among the more than a hundred available, the state offers vanity plates. The purchaser can request a name or saying of up to seven letters or numbers. Combinations of letters and/or numbers that are considered obscene, slandering, insulting, or vulgar in ordinary usage are not permitted, according to state law.
The state issued nearly 80,000 vanity plates and Yalobusha County 337 during the past year. The majority of the $31 fee is shared by the General Fund ($16.25) and the State Highway Fund ($12.25).
Information about special plates and vanity plates is available from the Tax Assessor/Collector’s office at the courthouses in Water Valley and Coffeeville.
For a look at the special tags, click here.
