Massive Auto Registration Sticker Project Completed
4 Million Area Automobile Owners Affected

HOUSTON – June 21, 2005 – Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt and Jerry Dike, TxDOT Director of the Vehicle Titles and Registration Division announce today’s implementation of a new vehicle registration upgrade called Point of Sale Sticker Printing (POSSP). The Tax Office has gone live today with 660 workstations in nearly 400 locations in Harris County.

“’ PRINT PEEL PLACE’ is the Tax Office’s newest motto when describing the ease with which vehicle owners can purchase these new registration stickers,” said Bettencourt. “The POSSP design maintains an exceptional level of customer satisfaction and security with 21st century technology for all Harris County customers. It was an important challenge for Tax Office employees who provided training and prepared workstations to make today’s deadline to deliver Harris County residents the best, most efficient service available today.”

The POSSP system was designed to utilize special forms that allow for printing both windshield and license plate stickers, automatically printing the appropriate sticker and voiding the sticker that is not needed. With POSSP, each registration sticker uniquely identifies the registered vehicle by showing the last eight digits of the vehicle identification number (VIN), the license plate number, county of registration, and registration month and year to deter sticker theft.

"This new method is a considerable improvement in Texas registration processes," said Jerry Dike, TxDOT Director of Vehicle Titles and Registration Division. "Because the system connects each sticker with its registered vehicle, it is now much easier for law enforcement to identify misused stickers. The added efficiency to the county allows us to better serve our customers, and we're always pleased when we can improve the quality of our services."

The Harris County Tax Office began its massive countywide training for 680 employees at new car dealers, rental car agencies, grocery stores, and credit unions in early May 2005. To date, 159 new car dealers and rental car agencies have been trained along with 206 grocery stores and credit unions. Internally, 250 Tax Office employees have been trained on the upgraded vehicle registration system.

For information regarding Harris County vehicle registration, please call 713-368-2000 or visit the Tax Office website at www.hcauto.net.

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