Las Vegas centennial plates most popular ever

Wednesday, April 14, 2004 | 10:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The license plate that celebrates next year's Las Vegas centennial is the most popular specialty plate in Nevada history, officials said Tuesday. Its sales have raised $431,000 to help pay for the yearlong centennial festivities in Las Vegas, officials said.

As of April 1, 19,289 centennial plates had been sold, Tom Jacobs, public information officer for the state Department of Motor Vehicles, said.

This year it surpassed the Lake Tahoe plate, of which 18,212 had been purchased through April 1. In fact, the Las Vegas plates are popular in Northern Nevada too, Jacobs said.

Stacy Allsbrook, Las Vegas Centennial project manager, said organizers of Las Vegas' party are thrilled that the plates are "selling like hot cakes."

It's not surprising, she added, because the design is a good one and the plates are expected to become collector's items. They won't be manufactured past 2006.

The money from the plates can be used for historic projects or centennial celebrations. The parties start with New Year's Eve. And there will be major festivities next May 15 to commemorate the founding of Las Vegas.

A person buying the specialty plate pays a $61 registration fee, compared with $33 for a regular plate. Of the $61, $25 goes to the group that is promoting the plate -- in this case the Las Vegas centennial organization.

When the registration is renewed for a centennial plate, the Las Vegas centennial group gets $20 of the $30 renewal fee, Jacobs said Tuesday.

The issue of specialty license plates arose Tuesday when the state Board of Examiners approved a $10.9 million DMV contract with the 3M Company to produce specialty license plates.

The new plates will be on a thin sheet of aluminum and have more colors and better quality graphics, according to Martha Barnes, administrator of the DMV's Center Services and Record Division.

The new plate also will have digital pictures and graphics and will cost less to produce, Barnes said.

"We're anxious see how the customers react to them," she said. There are now 13 specialty license plates that the public can buy. There are others such as veterans, firefighters and police plates for which purchase is restricted to those groups.