Thought Chicago was tough on city sticker enforcement?

Think again.

Because some suburban towns are starting to crack down on their local drivers who blow off buying a city sticker using a state of Illinois database to nail drivers.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting about six dozen Illinois municipalities have purchased database info from the Illinois Secretary of State which allows them to see what vehicles are registered in their town and then cross check it against which owners haven’t purchased their city stickers.

In one case, Riverside went and looked back as far as 2006 (the furthest back the data is available for) and retroactively fining drivers.

While some towns have been aggressive in using this data to fine drivers, other cities like Lemont and Northfield are utilizing the database to send notices to drivers in their town to gently remind them to purchase city stickers.

While Chicago utilizes this same database to send city sticker renewal notices to over 1.3 million drivers registered in Chicago, it has not used the state data to fine drivers who don’t purchase city stickers.

Read the entire Tribune story, “Cities stick it to residents over vehicle stickers.”