Drivers in Chicago have a one-day reprieve to avoid late fees and potential tickets for lapsed city vehicle stickers, after a problem with City Clerk Susana Mendoza's computer system prompted her to extend the traditional grace period.



From about 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, the computer network that connects currency exchanges to the Clerk's Office so the businesses can sell vehicle stickers "experienced significant delays in transaction times," according to Mendoza's office.



That left people waiting for hours in line at some stores as they tried to get in under the scheduled midnight deadline to post the stickers on their windshields.



In light of the problem, Mendoza said enforcement agents will not start issuing $200 tickets until midnight tonight, and late fees of $60 per sticker will not be added to the cost until Thursday.



"While this issue only spanned a two to three hour window of time exclusively at currency exchanges, we took quick action to extend the grace period for a day because we want to help people come into compliance," Mendoza said in a statement. "We appreciate our customers' patience as we worked through this glitch."



All City Clerk's Office locations and currency exchanges that normally sell city stickers will be selling them today at normal prices, according to Mendoza.



The problems occurred as Mendoza works to switch to year-round vehicle sticker sales, a move she expects will end the annual crush of long lines that develop as 1.3 million stickers are sold at the same time.



Starting this year, the yearly city sticker will lapse six months after the vehicle's state license plate sticker does. The clerk's office is giving drivers the option this year of either buying a cheaper sticker to cover those remaining months after June until they must buy a replacement, or a more costly sticker good for those remaining months plus another year. By the end of 2015, everybody will be on the new system.



This year stickers for passenger vehicles cost $85.97 if purchased in person or online through the Clerk's Office, with currency exchanges adding fees up to $5.50.



Stickers cost $136.54 for a vehicle heavier than 4,500 pounds under a price increase tied to inflation that Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushed through as part of his 2012 budget. Pickup truck owners pay $202.28.



jebyrne@tribune.com