Longer lines for tag, title services could result from budget cut
County tax commissioners are sounding the alarm that if the state cannot pay for printers they need to process vehicle tags and titles, lines could get longer and customer service for county residents will suffer.
In the latest battle for budget dollars, the tax commissioners are pushing to get funding restored in the state Department of Revenue budget to replace and maintain the printers used in all 159 counties for the motor vehicle work on the GRATIS system — the centralized tax and titling database. For years the state has paid for the equipment costs, but that money has been cut, leaving counties with the expense.
“We already have shrinking budgets, and so where are we going to find the money in county funds?” said Rockdale tax commissioner Dan Ray. That county has 16 printers on the GRATIS system and a handful of them have started breaking down. So far, Ray has had to take one out of commission and patch others with temporary repairs paid out of his county office budget.
The Georgia Association of Tax Officials estimates about 1,500 of the system printers are in use in tax commissioners’ offices statewide. And because just about every transaction associated with the vehicle work requires printing, no county can conduct business without working equipment
“You take a county like Rockdale and multiply the problems by 10 for the larger metro counties, and you can really see the huge impact this is for counties,” said. Ray.
In Cobb County, for example, 115 printers are on the GRATIS system. The printers are well past their life cycle, and it is estimated to cost $59,400 to replace the equipment over two years. Cobb could use the replacements immediately, but the budget burden is too great for one year, officials said.
“You can’t afford to be down printers,” said Cobb Tax Commissioner Gail Downing. “Anytime you’re down printers, you’re deferring business or making customers wait.”
This legislative session, the House version of the budget restored some money for the equipment. The actual cost to replace all the printers and provide extended warranties would cost about $1.8 million, said Tommy Tedders, Bibb County Tax Commissioners and the immediate past president of the tax officers group. But tax commissioners agreed to a three-year implementation, so about $500,000 was included in the budget as the initial step for the printer replacement and maintenance.
But the House didn’t give the revenue department new funds to pay for the printers, instead requiring the department to use existing money. Senators have not included any new money in their version of the budget.
A budget conference committee of the two chambers will likely take up the issue.
The Department of Revenue would not comment until a budget is passed. Tax commissioners say they didn’t intend to go after the revenue commissioner’s budget, but were hoping the state could use a portion of the money it retains for the tag and title work to fund the equipment.
The tax commissioners have the support of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, which is encouraging the senate to support funding the uniform equipment program.
“We talk about running government like a business, yet here we are at state government deciding to do something that is not sound business practice,” said Clint Mueller, ACCG’s legislative director. “The state is doing away with a central system for an extremely inefficient, costly system. It just doesn't make sense.”
And waiting for the state money doesn't make sense to Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand. Over the past two years Ferdinand has used his county budget to replace 60 printers, costing more than $400 each.
“I’ve quit worrying about it,” he said. “I can’t afford the unpredictability of not having printers. This county has the most cars in Georgia and all the rental car agencies. I can’t afford to have these uncertainties with the state funding.”
A survey, conducted by Tedders in Bibb County of about two dozen counties found that many of the larger counties were paying for replacing the printers by using county money, but smaller counties were having a tougher time.
“The work that those printers do is state motor vehicle work,” Tedders said. “Why should a county have to pay for a piece of equipment for state work?"
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