GOP lawmakers should blame themselves for DMV service delays | Opinion

Here’s a new one: Republican state lawmakers are upset about the quality of state services.

In particular, they’re bothered by complaints they’re receiving about the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

At a hearing last week, state Sen. Michael Lazzara, an Onslow County Republican and chairman of the Transportation Oversight Committee, described the public’s unhappiness.

“Individuals are having trouble making appointments, getting permits or licenses, and ending up waiting long, extreme hours in long lines,” he said. “One new resident described his experience in an email as ‘abysmal’ in all caps.”

The committee called in DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin to explain why his agency was generating the complaints. Goodwin gamely said that during his two years in charge, the DMV has made progress by reducing its staff vacancies and cutting wait times.

“When I visit offices statewide, customers and staff regularly tell me that things are much better now than two years ago,” he told the lawmakers.

Goodwin said he sends a certificate to DMV license examiners when he receives a compliment about their service from the public. Over two years, he said, he has issued more than 2,200 such certificates.

Goodwin, a former state lawmaker, state insurance commissioner and Democratic state party chair, is making the best of a bad situation. Running the DMV in any state is a challenge, and particularly in one where 8.4 million people have active driver’s licenses or DMV-issued ID cards.

Of all state agencies, the DMV has the most direct engagement with the public. Naturally, it also is subject to public complaints.

But most of the problems at DMV are not because of incompetence within the agency. They’re caused by the Republican-led General Assembly’s neglect of basic public services.

Republican lawmakers keep cutting taxes at the expense of necessary public services. Low pay and eroding benefits are driving people out of state employment.

Across the state employee workforce, one in five positions are vacant.

Republicans added to the DMV’s staff shortage in 2020 by moving the agency’s headquarters from Raleigh to Rocky Mount. About a third of employees chose not to move.

Goodwin has used raises and retention bonuses to cut his agency’s vacancy rate to 11 percent – the lowest within the Department of Transportation – but the structural problems remain.

North Carolina’s population has grown by 3 million since 2000, but the state has added only three new driver’s license offices since 2003. Giving DMV customers the option to go online for some services has helped, but it’s not enough.

In remarks he prepared for the hearing Goodwin said, “Based upon the 8.44 million North Carolinians with active Driver’s Licenses and ID cards issued by the DMV, the current number of offices and the current number of Driver License Examiner employees are insufficient. Even with the record number of customers using DMV online services in 2023 (988,000 – a 31% increase from 2022), the math just doesn’t work for the current number of employees and offices.”

If Republicans want to improve the DMV, they should pay for it. Increase state salaries to keep up with inflation and improve state benefits to make it worthwhile to take a state job despite better pay in the private sector.

Instead, Lazzara and other Republicans are exploring whether the answer to the DMV’s challenges is to privatize its services. The state budget provided $125,000 to consider the change.

Only one state, Hawaii, has tried privatizing its DMV. The agencies handle identifying information and other records on millions of people. It’s not the kind of responsibility that should be handed to the highest bidder.

Republicans may want to blame Goodwin for long lines at the DMV. But the agency’s shortcomings are being caused by those pointing the finger. If Republican lawmakers want better public services, they should be better public servants.

Correction: An earlier version of this column referred to the Department of Motor Vehicles. It is the Division of Motor Vehicles, part of the state Department of Transportation.

This story was originally published March 6, 2024 at 11:18 AM.