Barbara Lipsky has lived in Rochester, New York, for most of her life. She and her late husband relocated to the area in the 1960s after he secured a position with Monroe County. The state issued him new license plates to identify him as a government employee. The plate reads 1M-20.
He died five years ago, but she was able to maintain his old plate for her Kia Seltos SUV. Thus, the plate has been in the family for more than 60 years. For so long, neither had a problem. This situation continued until January 2025, when Barbara started to receive $25 toll charges on her credit card.
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The problem is that she rarely drives to the city. She hardly drives at all.
“[The E-ZPass representative is] pulling it up and she’s looking and all of a sudden she starts laughing,” Barbara tells WHEC. “And I ask, ‘What’s so funny?’ She says, ‘Well, I just saw the picture. It’s a state police car with your license plate.”
The proof was in the pictures
She called the toll business E-ZPass because she was confused. That’s when she discovered the peculiar rationale behind the allegations.
Sure enough, the cruiser had the same license plate as Barbara’s husband: 1 M-20. Every time the police car entered Manhattan, the system charged Barbara’s account for the congestion charge. E-ZPass charged her 16 times in one month, totaling $144.
“Not only have they got my money, but I’m supposed to take a trip to Michigan this summer. What am I going to do?” she asked. “It’s spooky, upsetting, and inconvenient. It’s all those things. And it’s starting to really cost me money. They’ve got about $150 of mine they shouldn’t have.”
Reporters approached the Department of Transportation to see if they could assist Barbara. After four days, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) called with wonderful news: Barbara was not accountable for the charges.
The state is letting her keep the plate, too
DMV spokeswoman Walt McClure told reporters that staff had inadvertently awarded the police cruiser an already existing plate number.
“When State Police need a new fleet vehicle plate assigned, they contact DMV to ensure the plate configuration they’ve chosen is not already registered to someone else,” he wrote in an email. “We are now working with NYSP to replace the duplicative plate number.”
The New York State Police had a different take on the charges: it means police cruisers are being taxed for entering Manhattan when they should not have been. According to state legislation, government vehicles are immune from congestion pricing costs.
Beau Duffy, a NYSP spokesperson, claims that the agency has received an incorrect charge of about $13,000.
“We are working with the MTA to get the charges on our account reversed,” he said.
