Unregistered vehicles creating tax collection deficit, say Springfield officials 

The city of Springfield plans to crack down on unregistered motor vehicles that officials have linked to a tax collection deficit. 

In a media briefing today, Mayor Ken McClure was joined by Mayor Pro Tem Matthew Simpson and Councilmember Craig Hosmer to announce the initiative to enforce expired license plates and temporary tags. 

At the Feb. 10 council meeting, McClure and Hosmer intend to jointly introduce a resolution and an ordinance. 

The resolution emphasizes good citizenship, according to McClure, encouraging compliance with vehicle registration laws and highlighting the impact of noncompliance on public safety and tax revenue. 

The ordinance adds teeth to enforcement by allowing Springfield Police Department officers to impound unregistered vehicles at their discretion. 

Citing data from the state of Missouri, Hosmer said 47% of vehicles in Greene County are not properly registered. 

“That is incredibly high – that’s higher than the state average,” he said. 

Hosmer said local personal property tax collections are two years or more behind for 8,800 people, and that’s a deficit of $3.8 million, according to Greene County Collector data. He linked that to the failure of owners to register their vehicles, since registering a vehicle requires proof that property taxes have been paid and since vehicle taxes make up the majority of personal property tax collections. 

“That puts a burden on taxpaying, regular citizens,” he said. 

He added that real property can be foreclosed upon if taxes go unpaid, but the only mechanism to ensure that someone pays personal property tax is for a law enforcement officer to pull over an unregistered vehicle. He called paying taxes and registering vehicles good public policy. 

“I think it’s imperative that we do a better job as a community, and that’s partially law enforcement, that’s partially City Council, that’s partially the community,” he said. 

Springfield Police Department Major Eric Reece said officers would exercise discretion in how they address the issue. 

“I can’t stress enough – towing is not the main option we’re going to use. It’s the last option,” he said. 

McClure said more announcements are forthcoming from his office, including policies on lane splitting – situations where vehicles, usually motorcycles, travel between two marked lanes of traffic.