Winston County a pilot program for new vehicle tag decals

DOUBLE SPRINGS - A new look is coming to the tag decals on the back of vehicles for Winston County, soon to be for all of Alabama. For now though, Winston County is a pilot county, among others, for issuing the month and year on one decal to be placed on the upper right corner of tags.

The month decal is okay for those who have it currently, but if a new vehicle is purchased, a new tag will be issued with no separate month decal.

“It’s print-on-demand and prints the month and the year on the decal at one time,” Winston County Probate Judge Sheila Moore said.

Also, the new decal number is no longer a separate one but is the same as the tag number, according to Moore.

“The number there (on the decal) has to match what’s on your tag,” Moore stated.

“The whole receipt has a barcode on it because the state wants an image of it,” Moore added.

“Eventually, when we start issuing five-year tags, the month decals will go away. It won’t even have a place for the decal. It will only have a place on the right side of the tag.”

Starting January 1, 2019, the entire state will be converted over to the new system.

Winston County Sheriff Chief Deputy Bryan Kirkpatrick has gone to all the Winston County police municipalities and made them aware on the upcoming changes to tags.

“You can leave your tag like it is,” Moore said. “Just put that new decal on the top right hand corner.”

“We like it. It seems to go a lot faster, and we don’t have to worry about giving the wrong decal because the computer system issues automatically what needs to be issued.”

The new system was supposed to have been started at the beginning of the year, but due to computer glitches in the program, it did not begin until August.

The probate office can be contacted at 205-489-5219 with any questions.