Senate rejects new DMV hires

Wednesday, May 23, 2001 | 10:27 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A proposal to hire an additional 129 employees for the Department of Motor Vehicles to reduce waiting times was defeated in the Senate Tuesday.

The plan by Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, was voted down 16-5 after opponents feared counties and school districts would lose funding if money was used to hire the new state workers.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said the proposal was not reviewed by the Senate Finance Committee, which determines the number of employees state agencies can hire. He said there's no explanation into whether the department needs 129 new workers, or 84, or 67, to handle the long lines.

Coffin also expressed concern about school districts losing revenue.

Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, said reducing money that now goes to local governments would hurt those in rural counties with declining populations.

McGinness said the White Pine County School District is struggling financially, and taking even $20,000 would hurt the district in eastern Nevada.

O'Donnell said the average wait to register a car or obtain a driver's license is 66 minutes. Sometimes customers spend as much as three hours waiting for service, he said.

O'Donnell's plan would have allowed the department to extend its hours and remain open Saturday.

The goal, he said, was to cut the waiting times to 35 minutes.

"We can't afford to have our customers waiting. It's unconscionable," he said.

The $4 million plan would be financed through the government service tax, formerly known as the vehicle privilege tax.

The state charges 6 percent for collecting this money and then distributing it to the counties and the school districts. O'Donnell wanted to raise the administrative fee to 8.6 percent.

Under the plan Clark County and the Clark County School District could stand to lose more than $1 million each.

O'Donnell said these losses would be made up in the next two years as more vehicles are registered and tax receipts increase.