Nearly 40 organizations, institutions and Virginia agencies have received more than $13 million from specialty license plate sales.
In 1992, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles began selling revenue-sharing license plates where $15 of the $25 plate fee is donated to a specified organization.
The Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund’s crab license plate has received the most funding in the revenue-sharing plate program, with nearly $4.7 million coming in since 1993.
“The legislature thought it was a good idea to sell license plates. Maryland had done it a couple years previous to us and raised money that way,” said Marty Farber, a senior research associate with Virginia’s Division of Legislative Services.
DLS runs the restoration fund, which relies solely on the license plate funds to give grants to communities and nonprofits working to clean up pollution, buy easements or educate citizens about the environment in their neighborhoods, Farber said.
“The real purpose was to build up grassroots organizations and give them initial seed money to get going and have community-based projects,” he said.
The university with the highest amount of revenue-sharing funding is Virginia Polytechnic, with nearly $1.4 million coming in since 1992. The school has four different plates to chose from.
The money is put into a general fund to give Virginia residents scholarships to the school, said Mark Owczarski, a Virginia Tech spokesman.
“The great thing is the Hokie nation and Hokie community keep buying them. … All these people continuously support generations of students along the way,” he said.
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has seven plates in its Wildlife Conservationist series, featuring an eagle, a white-tailed deer, a large mouth bass and more. Since 1992, DGIF has received more than $3.5 million that is used for wildlife habitat restoration and other wildlife programs, said Julia Dixon, a DGIF spokeswoman.
“We don’t have a huge budget so this [program] means a lot to us,” she said.
In order to get a specialty or revenue-sharing plate approved by the General Assembly, groups must have 350 prepaid $10 applications on hand to show support. Once 1,000 revenue-sharing plates are sold, the funding begins to accumulate for the plate’s cause, said Bill Foy, a DMV spokesman.
Virginia License Plates
» Other organizations that benefit from revenue sharing plates include the Family and Children Trust Fund, VDOT’s Operation Wildflower and the Virginian Art Foundation.
» Virginia’s first specialty plate was an antique plate issued in 1954, followed by the bicentennial in 1976.
» In fiscal 2005, Virginia sold a total of 1,839,940 license plates. Of those, 206,980 were specialty or personalized plates.
» It costs DMV $3.70 for a pair of standard issue plates and $6.46 for specialty plates.
