Specialty plates raise nearly $740,000 for Smokies group
Sales of Smokies tags in Tennessee and North Carolina raised nearly $740,000 this year to support the nonprofit group’s conservation, education and maintenance programs in the country’s most visited national park.
“Every single person who has a Smokies plate deserves credit for making these efforts a reality,” Gary Wade, chairman of the Friends board, said in a statement Friday.
“With such strong public support for the plates and the park, we hope to accomplish as much or even more in 2006.”
The Smokies plate in Tennessee, begun in 1997, remains the most popular speciality tag out of more than 90 offerings ? both in the number of tags sold and the revenue raised under a formula that varies from plate to plate.
There were 16,722 Smokies plates on the road in Tennessee raising $514,870 through the end of the fiscal year on June 30, according to the Department of Safety.
The Friends said revenues through the end of the calender reached $552,134 in Tennessee, down about 7 percent from the year before. Sales from a more recently started companion plate in North Carolina climbed about 6.75 percent to $181,800, Friends spokesman George Ivey said.
“We have seen over time whenever there are fee increases there will be a decline in renewals,” Ivey said. “They are fairly price sensitive.”
Friends officials believe a sharp increase in the Knox County wheel tax in 2004 caused the decline in sales this year in tag-friendly Knoxville.
The Friends keep $30.75 of the extra $35 annual fee for a specialty plate in Tennessee, and $20 of the extra $30 fee in North Carolina.
Among the tag-supported projects this year: $135,000 toward a new park science center, $67,500 for education programs at Tremont, $54,000 to search for new park species, $47,000 for Student Conservation Association interns, $25,500 to monitor effects of acid rain on streams and $18,000 to fight exotic insects threatening hemlock trees.
Smokies plate tops in Tennessee
A revenue ranking of the Top 10 speciality license plates sold in Tennessee for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, according to the Tennessee Department of Safety.
1. Friends of Great Smoky Mountains, $514,870
2. Department of Environment and Conservation, $312,334
3. Watchable Wildlife, $304,359
4. Agricultural Development, $275,571
5. Tennessee Titans, $209,634
6. Arts Commission (cat, fish, rainbow), $201,250
7. Animal Friendly, $172,563
8. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, $158,769
9. University of Tennessee 1998 Football Championship, $144,467
10. Sportsman Wildlife Foundation, $141,311
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On the Net:
Friends of Smokies: http://www.friendsofthesmokies.org/