(a) There is hereby imposed and levied the following annual registration fee pursuant to the provisions of section 46.2-752(A) Code of Virginia, and hereafter referred to as registration fee, upon each and every motor vehicle, trailer and semitrailer normally garaged, stored or parked in the county:

(1) A fee of twenty-three dollars ($23.00) is imposed on the following:

a. Each private passenger car or motor home provided that it is not used for the transportation of passengers for compensation and is not kept or used for rent or for hire, or is not operated under a lease without a chauffeur.

b. A private motor vehicle other than a motorcycle with a normal seating capacity of more than ten (10) adults including the driver if the private motor vehicle is not used for rent or for hire or is not operated under a lease without a chauffeur.

c. A private school bus.

d. Each trailer or semitrailer designed for use as living quarters for human beings.

e. Each motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer used as a common carrier of passengers, operating either intrastate or interstate.

f. Each motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer kept or used for rent or for hire or operated under a lease without chauffeur for the transportation of passengers. This subsection does not apply to vehicles used as common carriers.

g. A taxicab or other vehicle which is kept for rent or hire operated with a chauffeur for the transportation of passengers, and which operates or should operate under permits issued by the State Corporation Commission as required by law. This subsection does not apply to vehicles used as common carriers.

h. A bus used exclusively for transportation to and from Sunday school or church, for the purpose of divine worship.

i. Other passenger-carrying vehicles.

j. All motor vehicles not designed and used for the transportation of passengers, and pickup and panel trucks.

(2) A fee of fifteen dollars ($15.00) is imposed on the following:

a. A motorcycle, with or without a side car.

b. A trailer or semitrailer constituting a part of a combination with a truck or tractor truck (each vehicle of which combination shall be assessed as a separate vehicle).

c. Any motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, or specialized mobile equipment, on which well drilling machinery is attached, as defined in section 46.2-700, Code of Virginia.

(3) A fee of six dollars and fifty cents ($6.50) is imposed on the following:

A cradle, flatbed, or open pickup type trailer which has one (1) or two (2) wheels and a body width not greater than the width that of the motor vehicle to which it is attached at any time of operation, is pulled by a passenger car, or a pickup or panel truck having an actual gross vehicle weight not exceeding five thousand (5,000) pounds, and is used for carrying property weighing no more than one thousand five hundred (1,500) pounds at any one time, and for all trailers designed exclusively to transport boats. Nothing in this subsection shall apply to the fees for trailers or semitrailers designed for use as living quarters for human beings, or to those trailers or semitrailers operated under lease or rental agreement, or operated for compensation.

(4) A fee of five dollars ($5.00) is imposed on the following:

Any antique motor vehicle licensed pursuant to the provisions of section 46.2-730, Code of Virginia.

The registered owner of any such motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer shall be liable for the registration fee herein levied.

In no event shall the county's fee exceed that of the state for a similar motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer.

The registration fees specified in this section shall be reduced by one-half (½) for passenger vehicles and pickup or panel trucks upon production of proof that any such vehicle is licensed by the division of motor vehicles in the name of a member of the Virginia National Guard, pursuant to section 46.2-744, Code of Virginia.

(b) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as imposing a county registration fee upon any of the following, as to all of which vehicles the owners are hereby exempted from payment of the registration fees provided in this section:

(1) All motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers exempted therefrom by general law of the state or owned by the county or any governmental agency and operated solely in governmental business;

(2) One (1) motor vehicle owned and used personally by any member of the (i) county volunteer fire and rescue squad; or (ii) a volunteer deputy sheriff in the Sheriff’s Department.

(3) One (1) motor vehicle owned and used personally by any disabled veteran, as defined in section 46.2-739, Code of Virginia;

(4) One (1) passenger vehicle, pickup or panel truck, as defined in section 46.2-100, Code of Virginia, owned by any person who furnishes written evidence from one of the armed forces that such person was a prisoner of the enemy in any war and, if not currently a member of the armed forces, was honorably discharged;

(5) All motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers exempted by section 46.2-755, Code of Virginia;

(6) All motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers owned and registered solely in the name of members of the armed forces of the United States not domiciliary residents of Virginia, who are absent from the state or other jurisdiction of which they are domiciliary residents in compliance with orders of any of the uniformed services of the United States, but only if the license, fee or excise required by the state or jurisdiction of their domiciliary residence has been paid as to any such vehicle registered in Virginia.

(7) All motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers owned by and registered in the name of persons who reside on a government reservation within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States.

(c) In any case wherein this schedule of registration fees the registration is being purchased after September 15 of any year, and the owner was not required by this section to have paid a registration fee before such date of purchase, the fee shall be reduced by one-half (½).
(Ord. No. 03-35, 9/2/03--effective after January 1, 2004)