The license plate renewal is (back) in the mail.

Secretary of State Jesse White’s office is resuming mail renewal notices for license plate stickers, a practice that was halted nearly a year ago to save the state money.

“The notices are an essential tool for the public to be sure their vehicles are in good standing and avoid paying late fees and fines resulting from tickets issued by law enforcement,” White said in a statement. “The driving public paid the price for the budget impasse and it proved to be an unfair burden. With the funds from the stop-gap budget the notices will resume. In addition, we are reducing the number of mailings and seeking alternative funding sources for the postage costs.”

White spokesman Dave Druker said Monday the mailings are being reinstated immediately and the first people to receive them are motorists whose plate stickers expire near the end of August.

“We did notice when we stopped doing it in October last fall that there continued to be a number of people who weren’t renewing in a timely manner and were getting either caught with the late fee or getting ticketed,” Druker said. “As a result, we wanted to see what we could do to improve that situation.”

Additionally, Druker said, the legislature approved the stopgap spending bill that authorized additional money for postage in the Secretary of State’s Office.

Mailing license plate renewal notices was halted last October, saving White’s office an estimated $450,000 a month in postage. White’s office encouraged motorists to sign up to receive emailed reminders to renew license plate stickers.

That suggestion apparently didn’t reach thousands of people. From January to mid-July, about 563,400 motorists were assessed more than $11 million in late fees for failing to renew license plate stickers on time. During the same period in 2015, when renewal notices were still being mailed, about 252,700 motorists paid $5.5 million in late fees. The money goes into the state’s general fund, not to White’s office.

In June, lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that would give motorists a 30-day grace period to renew their license plate stickers. The bill is awaiting action by Gov. Bruce Rauner. Druker said the Secretary of State’s Office supports the bill.

Druker said the office is still encouraging people to visit the secretary of state website at cyberdriveillinois.com and sign up for electronic renewal reminders. When people sign up for email reminders, their names are removed from the office’s mailing list.

“We wind up saving the postage when people sign up for electronic notification,” Druker said.

The office said more than 2.3 million have registered for email notification. About 800,000 signed up since October when the office stopped mailing notices.

White also plans to seek approval from the General Assembly to sell advertising space on the renewal notices. Money from the ads would then be used to offset the cost of mailing renewal notices.

While White wants lawmakers to act on the idea during the veto session in November, Druker said many details of the ad arrangement have yet to be developed. That includes who would screen ads for suitability for a secretary of state mailing. Druker said he doesn’t know if any other states place ads on license mailings.

If approved, an exact date for the ads to appear is not certain. Druker said a solicitation for ads would have to go through the regular state procurement process that can take several weeks.

-- Contact Doug Finke: doug.finke@sj-r.com, 788-1527, twitter.com/dougfinkesjr.