l.robinson1@charter.net

Suffolk city stickers are on sale.

The deadline to pay personal property taxes was Dec. 5, and you must be paid up to place one of the new pieces of art on your windshield. Stickers can be purchased at the downtown treasurer’s office or at various satellite locations. You must have a decal by Feb. 15 to avoid a fine.

To forgo lines, residents are encouraged to mail payments or use the drop box in front of city hall. If you wait too late, waiting in a line will be inevitable. For vehicles under 4,000 pounds, the decal cost is $20.

For three years now, the treasurer’s office has coordinated efforts with the city’s tourism division to market Suffolk’s assets on the stickers. This started with the downtown train station and the Great Dismal Swamp. For this year’s theme, a northern Suffolk waterfront view is shown.

&uot;This is the highest growth area in the city and the sticker shows the beautiful waterfront lifestyle available there,&uot; said City Treasurer Ronald H. Williams. &uot;A great deal of time and thought went in to selecting the design work that we used.&uot;

In turn, the decals have become a great marketing tool for Suffolk. &uot;It’s the cheapest advertisement the city does. This promotes Suffolk in a very positive way,&uot; Williams added.

Sticker sales have been consistently increasing along side the city’s population. Five years ago, the city sold 55,000 stickers as compared to 67,000 in 2002, and about 70,000 this year. &uot;That’s about one vehicle per resident,&uot; said Williams.

The treasurer’s office is also working to make the sticker purchase process easier for residents. For one, efforts are under way to consolidate personal property tax and decal fees into one bill. This would allow citizens to include the cost of the sticker in with their taxes-one payment instead of two.

There are several payment methods. For one, residents can pay online with a credit card, for a &uot;convenient&uot; fee, explained Williams. For more information about purchasing stickers, call 925-5600 or visit www.suffolk.va.us