By Rette Speight
Specialty license plates serve more of a purpose than just glorified bumper stickers.
The state of Utah currently claims 35 different styles of plates plus 11 collegiate plates. As of 2007, there were 72,878 vehicles sporting specialty plates.
Specialty plates were originally created to raise money for certain funds and to brand cars to a specific cause. Veterans can identify themselves with the wars they fought in; vintage vehicles claim their heritage and other plates raise money for various charitable causes.
The driver of the car must pay a fee ranging from $13 to $35 for most of the plates, of which $10 goes to the state highway fund and the rest to the charity that the plate represents.
Colleges use their plate money for scholarship funds. Last year, the 11 different colleges brought in $314,746 total according to the state tax commission.
What the colleges do with that money is pretty free, with the only requirement that it go towards scholarships of some sort. BYU has chosen to fund their 'replenishment grants' with the money. The grants are named such because of the hope administrators have that the beneficiaries will replenish the fund with the amount they were given when they have careers and are able to, said BYU spokesperson Michael Smart.
The grants are awarded through the BYU Alumni Association to students for academic merit, financial need, outstanding achievements of the students and other reasons Smart said. Each year more than 200 students receive the grants as either half or full-tuition grants.
Although specialty plates seem like an easy fundraiser, most aren't as successful as hoped for. BYU sells an average of 600 to 700 plates ever year, Smart said.
"BYU sells significantly less plates than the other big universities," Smart said. "Because of that, the money for the replenishment grants comes from other places as well as the license plates."
Each year, the replenishment grants provide more than $250,000, which is far more money than what is raised by the license plate sales he said.
Lindsay Allen, director of alumni relations and marketing at the University of Utah, said that as of November 2007 they had 5,522 University of Utah plates out on the roads.
Allen said that each year, more than 30 students receive scholarships in varying amounts and that in 2007, the school was able to award more than $150,000 in scholarships. The money she said comes largely from the license plates but also from private donations and a run the school holds.
"We try to spread that money out as much as possible," Allen said.
Purchasing a college plate is a pretty secure donation. The drivers know where the money is going. With some of the other plates however, it's a little harder to know who gets the money.
The "Children's Issues" specialty plate separates their funds between the Guardian Ad Litem Services account and the Children's Museum of Utah.
However, other plates don't do as well as the college plates.
Last year, the Agriculture plate only brought in a total of $293. The Boys and Girls Club only $500. The snowmobile plate didn't sell a single one.
While purchasing a college plate is a pretty secure donation, some of the other plates are a little harder to guess where the money goes. Without a specific specialty group, some of the plates such as the "Pets in Utah" plate, the "Utah Housing Opportunity" and others. The "Children's Issues" specialty plate separates their funds between the Guardian Ad Litem Services account and the Children's Museum of Utah.
In the past, the plates have been started entirely by state funds. The cost usually comes to about $9,000 per new plate said Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland. Additionally he said, each bill passed a couple of years ago cost a cumulative $10,000 to process from start to finish due to resources required to pass bills.
Because most of the plates don't sell enough to be efficient, the Utah state legislature has become hesitant to pass any bill sanctifying funds to another specialty license plate.
"They're a waste of legislative time," Dougall said. "It's a state sanctioned bumper sticker. There are thousands of taxpayer dollars wasted."
This year in the legislature, new specialty plate sponsors got more creative in their attempts to pass the plates. Rep. Bradley Last, R-St. George, sponsored the Zion National Park plate, and had a list of names that were already signed up for the plate to prove that if created, it would be cost efficient.
Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Salt Lake City, proposed a cancer screening awareness plate in which she asked that state funds be given to start the plate, and as the plates sold, they would repay the state the $8,200 needed.
But no matter how good the cause, most legislators just aren't interested.
Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, said that the general consensus of legislators would be to create a plain white plate with a designated area for a sticker. Then, groups could create their own sticker and sell it at their own price, with no drain on government funds and resources.
"It's just a special group's sticker on a plate," Dougall said. "Let them do their own fundraisers. We don't need the tax commission and legislature to be involved."
