Dartmouth has a new plan to battle beach sticker fraud: switching to an electronic beach sticker system.

At the August 8 Select Board meeting, DartStat’s Lyden Marcellot presented a plan to revamp the Parks and Recreation Department’s beach sticker program. The proposal would introduce either barcode or RFID-based stickers (that use radio frequencies) that are designed to self-destruct upon being removed from a vehicle.

Currently, the project is still in the planning stages. DartStat and the town have been receiving quotes from vendors, said Marcellot. One vendor quoted a barcode system at $16,000. The project will be funded through a state Community Compact IT Grant, which awards funding to cities and towns to invest in technology, said Marcellot.

“Once the new system goes in, you won’t be able to duplicate the stickers,” said Parks and Recreation Director Tim Lancaster.

Lancaster, hopes to receive the new equipment for the department in the fall and test it out over the winter. He said the system could be fully operational by the summer of 2017.

Staff at town beaches would be provided with a handheld reader to scan the barcodes or RFID chips of each vehicle’s beach sticker upon entering beach properties to ensure each sticker is valid.

Security problems with the existing beach sticker system results in lost revenue for the department, increases traffic to town beaches, and decreases parking space turnover for residents who pay for valid beach stickers, said Marcellot.

In July, the Parks Department issued a warning to residents to guard their beach stickers after several stickers were stolen from cars parked at Round Hill Beach. The alert said that stolen stickers can be sold for $100 online.

Lancaster added that the new stickers will not only help the department cut back on theft and fraud, but allow it the flexibility to revoke stickers from residents who violate beach rules.