DMV wants fee hike to facilitate use of kiosks

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 | 8:30 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Department of Motor Vehicles wants to raise the price of a new or renewed driver's license by 50 cents as a way to permit motorists to renew their licenses on the newly introduced kiosks at DMV offices.

If the raise goes into effect, getting a license renewed at the automated booths could be the cheapest way to go.

Kiosks, which are operating in five DMV offices in the Las Vegas Valley, can process vehicle registrations. But they can't deal with driver's licenses because they can't make change in coins, Tom Jacobs, DMV spokesman, said Monday. Registration fees are rounded to the dollar, Jacobs said.

Driver's license renewals, however, carry a basic fee of $19.50. The total, once a $2.25 fee for the digital photo is tacked on, is $21.75.

Under the DMV proposal, the total would rise to $22.25, but the cost for renewal at kiosks, which do not produce the photo, would be only $20, an amount the kiosks can handle.

Those who renew on the kiosk would not get a digitized picture but would receive a sticker to be placed on the back of their license, Jacobs said.

Renewing by the mail costs $21 because the department adds a $1.50 charge for the handling. Renewing by the Internet costs $19.50. Both of those prices would go up 50 cents if the DMV proposal is passed.

The plan was revealed Monday in the weekly report by the legal division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau of new bills being requested. The proposal would go to the 2005 Legislature, which convenes in February.

Motorists with clean records can now renew their four-year licenses every other time either by mail or by the Internet. That means drivers have to come into the state office for a new picture every eight years, Jacobs said.

The proposed 50-cent increase would bring in an estimated $380,000 more annually to the state highway fund. Of that money, 22 percent would go to the motor vehicle department and the rest would be used for road building and administration.

In addition, legislators have asked for several bills in the past week. Among them: