CITY OF LODI WHEEL TAX AND REGISTRATION

Good morning everyone,

I have received several contacts from residents of the Town of Lodi with concerns about DMV registration and the City of Lodi wheel tax, and I wanted to reach out with more information.

As you know, last January, the Lodi City Council approved a $20 municipal motor vehicle registration fee, or "wheel tax." The fee went into effect starting with May 2016 vehicle registrations. Since that time, residents of the City of Lodi have seen an additional $20 fee included on their yearly registration card from the Department of Transportation Division of Motor Vehicles.

Unfortunately, some in the Town of Lodi have seen this $20 fee attached to their registration card as well. Residents in the Town of Lodi will not have to pay the $20.

This error occurs because of the system used for vehicle registration. WisDOT-DMV uses Finalist Address Validation and Correction Software from the United States Postal Service that attempts to correct errors before the become a problem for those registering. However, the program is not equipped to use GPS to distinguish between county lines, municipal lines, and town lines. Therefore, a Lodi zip code would most frequently bounce back as the City of Lodi, even though that zip code includes many municipalities, including the Town of Lodi.

To account for this issue, DMV asks on the MV-1 registration form what county and what municipality the vehicle will be kept in. That way, DMV is basically telling the program where the boundary lines are. However, sometimes that portion of the form does not get filled out or the section is entered incorrectly into the system after the form has been filled out, and the system is not technologically advanced enough to fix the error on its own.

 

DMV is aware of the issue and is exploring technology that would utilize GPS to more accurately assess boundary lines so this issue does not occur. In the mean time, they attach a letter to all registration cards with a wheel tax zip code to explain the issue and hopefully catch those, like you in the Town of Lodi, that would be assessed a fee erroneously. The letter says the following:

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Lodi (city)

$20 effective May 2016

Lodi renewal message: Your registration fee includes a new $20 municipal vehicle registration fee collected on behalf of the City of Lodi. If your vehicle is not kept in the City of Lodi, in the upper left corner of the notice in the "Vehicle Kept In" line, cross out the incorrect information and write the correct county and city, village or township. Submit it with the correct renewal fee (deduct the $20 fee if this vehicle is not kept in the City of Lodi). Or, contact WisDOT at vehiclequestions@dot.wi.gov or (608) 266-1466 to correct our records. Any person who gives a false or fictitious location where a vehicle is customarily kept may be fined not more than $200 or imprisoned not more than six months or both (section 341.60, WI stats.) Please visit www.cityoflodi.us for more information. Questions about the municipal vehicle registration fee can also be directed to the Director of Administration Eric Rindfleisch at (608) 592-3247 x207.

___________________________________________________________________________

This message has also been included on the website when renewing. They have also pushed this issue heavily in training their front desk staff at DMV locations so those staff ask for the vehicle county and municipality location if it is not filled out on the MV-1 form.

 

Please feel free to pass this information out to all those living in the Town of Lodi that may not have received it. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused any of you. Please know we are aware of the issue and looking for ways to improve it.

 

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Have a great weekend, and Happy Veterans Day to all those brave souls that have and continue to protect our freedoms in this wonderful country.

 

Rep. Ripp