Kansas City wants to open its own city-run DMV, following in Grandview’s footsteps | KCUR

There are two DMV offices in Kansas City serving more than 500,000 residents.

Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw thinks this is a problem.

“If someone has a regular 8-to-5 job, they have to take time off from work and renew their license,” he said. “There are often long waits, long lines.”

Licensing offices are generally privately owned and contracted by the Missouri Department of Revenue. Before 2009, the best way to get a contract in Missouri was to be on friendly terms with the governor.

This meant that DMV offices were not always opened where they were needed. But in 2009, then-Gov. Jay Nixon abolished the patronage system in favor of a competitive bidding process.

Now the Kansas City Council is trying to open and operate its own public DMV office. Council Approved a resolution on October 10 Directing City Manager Brian Platt to look at the process, estimate costs and recommend a possible location.

How does the city-run Kansas City DMV work?

Parks-Shaw said she wants to follow in the footsteps of Grandview, which has had a city-owned DMV since 1984, when a private office went out of business.

This would leave the city’s residents with no other options nearby. That’s why the mayor of Grandview took some measures to save Jefferson City.

“My understanding is that (then-Governor Kit Bond) was very good friends with the mayor of Grandview,” said Valarie Poindexter, the city’s communications director. “When they lost that office, he said, ‘Hey, the city can take it over.’”

Bond gave Grandview 12 weeks to make this happen, and the office opened in a small office in City Hall.

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Poindexter said the DMV has been an important asset to Grandview for 40 years. It processes about 1,750 driver’s licenses and car registrations a week, and residents can make property tax payments at the same office instead of traveling to Independence or the courthouse downtown.

City employees work in the office and the profit is transferred to the city budget.

Financial problems of licensing offices

Poindexter said Grandview’s DMV makes enough money to cover the city’s water bill, but no more.

Meanwhile, other DMVs in the state have struggled to keep their doors open. In 2023, the Missouri Department of Revenue, St. He couldn’t find a single contractor willing to operate an office in downtown St. Louis; This was partly because it was becoming increasingly common. increasingly less financially viable.

License and vehicle fees are set by the Missouri General Assembly, and the State Legislature has approved only one fee increase since 1999. This makes it difficult for DMV office operators to keep up with rising costs.

That’s one factor in the decision to potentially open a city-run DMV in Kansas City.

“If it works out for Kansas City to actually have one of our departments that we have staff to run it, we will be able to provide that sustainability much more than an outside or community business,” Parks-Shaw said. ”

Poindexter said he takes great pride in Grandview’s DMV office. The city recently opened a standalone building for the DMV across from City Hall in February.

What happens next?

Parks-Shaw isn’t sure where a new DMV might go; It could be in the city centre, Northland or the downtown district. He hopes it will be on a bus line so it’s easily accessible.

The two DMV locations in Kansas City are at Troost Boulevard and Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard and near Interstate 29 and Northwest 64th Street.

But just because the Kansas City Council wants a city-owned DMV like the one in Grandview doesn’t necessarily mean it will get one.

The system in the 1980s, when the mayor of Grandview could ask the governor for a license to operate a DMV office, was this: replaced by a competitive bidding process by the Missouri legislature in 2009.

Kansas City may seek a new DMV, but that decision would ultimately depend on a feasibility study conducted by the Department of Revenue. A study will consider factors such as population, how many other licensing offices are nearby, and what types of businesses are located in the area.

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And if the Department of Revenue ultimately decides to open another location in Kansas City, it wouldn’t necessarily have to be run by the city.

Kansas City would bid to operate the office, but other businesses in the area may also bid.

Regardless of the outcome, Parks-Shaw said she sees the DMV issue as not just a matter of convenience but also of economy and democracy.

With the 2024 election fast approaching, Missouri’s voter ID law has become even more important to ensure Kansas Citians can keep their current driver’s license to vote, he said. Keeping the record up to date, Help drivers stay out of court and get to work.

“Fees continue to rise for people with expired car tags,” he said. “They lose access to their vehicles, which has a negative impact on them, their livelihood, their family’s livelihood, and ultimately harms Kansas City as a whole.”

How to get in and out of the DMV quickly?

• Renew your vehicle registration online to save on travel.
• Avoid Mondays and Fridays and the last day of the month. Poindexter said these are the busiest days at the licensing office and can have hours of wait times.
• Use technology to get in line before arriving. Some DMVs, including Grandview, use an app called QLess that allows you to check in from your phone. The app will send you a notification on your next step.
• If you don’t have QLess, you can pre-search for some locations to be added to the queue.
• Speak to the attendant at check-in to make sure you have all the documents you need. This way, you’ll know if a document is missing before you get to the front of the line.

This story was first published by . Signfellow member KC Media Collective.