Kansas City wants to open its own city motor vehicle department, following in Grandview’s footsteps | CRMS

Kansas City has two DMV offices serving more than 500,000 residents.

Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw says that’s a problem.

“If there’s someone who has a regular 8 to 5 job, they’re going to have to leave their job to go and renew their license,” she said. “A lot of times it’s long waits, long lines.”

Licensing offices are typically privately owned and contracted with 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 open where they were needed. But in 2009, then-Gov. Jay Nixon abandoned the patronage system in favor of competitive bidding.

Now the Kansas City council is trying to open and operate its own state DMV office. Advice approved the resolution on October 10. I am directing City Manager Brian Platt to study the process, estimate all costs and recommend a possible location.

How will the Kansas City DMV work?

Parks-Shaw said she would like to follow in the footsteps of Grandview, which has owned the city’s DMV since 1984 when the private office went bankrupt.

This would leave city residents without other options nearby. So the mayor of Grandview pulled some strings in Jefferson City to save the city.

“It’s my understanding that (then-Governor Keith Bond) was very good friends with the mayor of Grandview,” said Valarie Poindexter, communications manager for the city. “So when they lost that office, she said, ‘Hey, the city can take over this.’

So Bond gave Grandview 12 weeks to complete the project, and it opened in a small office at City Hall.

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 pay their property taxes in one office rather than having to travel to Independence or the downtown courthouse.

City employees work in the office, and all profits go to the city budget.

Financial problems of licensing offices

Poindexter said the Grandview DMV makes enough money to cover the city’s water bills, but not much more.

Meanwhile, other DMVs in the state are struggling to keep their doors open. In 2023, the Missouri Department of Revenue couldn’t find a single contractor willing to operate an office in downtown St. Louis—in part because it’s becoming less and less financially viable.

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

This is one of the factors influencing the decision to potentially open a city DMV in Kansas City.

“If it turns out that Kansas City does have one of our departments that we’ve staffed to run, we’ll be able to provide that sustainability,” Parks-Shaw said, “more than perhaps external or public business. »

Poindexter said Grandview is very proud of its DMV office. The city recently opened a separate building for its DMV across the street from City Hall in February.

What happens next?

Parks-Shaw isn’t sure where the new DMV might go — it could be downtown, Northland or her downtown district. She hopes the location will be on a bus line so it’s easy to get to.

The two Kansas City DMV locations are at Troost Avenue 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 1980s system where the mayor of Grandview could simply ask the governor for a license to operate a DMV office was replaced by a competitive bidding process by the Missouri State Legislature in 2009.

Kansas City could request a new DMV, but that decision will ultimately depend on a feasibility study conducted by the Department of Revenue. The study will take into account factors such as population size, the number of other licensing offices nearby and what businesses are in the area.

And if the Department of Revenue ultimately decides to open another branch in Kansas City, it won’t necessarily be in the city.

Kansas City applied to operate the office, but other businesses in the area could do the same.

Parks-Shaw said that regardless of the outcome, she views the DMV issue not only as a matter of convenience, but also as an issue of economics and democracy.

With the 2024 election quickly approaching, Missouri’s voter ID law makes it even more important to ensure Kansans can keep a valid driver’s license to vote, she said. And keeping the registration up to date can help drivers stay away from ships and get to work.

“For those individuals whose vehicle tags have expired, the fees continue to increase,” she said. “They lose access to their vehicles, which negatively impacts them, their livelihoods and the livelihoods of their families, and ultimately harms Kansas City as a whole.”

How to quickly enter and exit the DMV

• Renew your car registration online to save on your trip.
• Avoid Mondays and Fridays, as well as the last day of the month. Poindexter said these are the busiest days at the licensing office and wait times can be several hours.
• Use technology to get in line before you arrive. Some DMVs, including Grandview, use the QLess app, which allows you to register from your phone. The app will send you a notification the next time you arrive.
• If you don’t have the QLess app, you can also call some locations ahead of time and add them to your queue.
• Talk to the clerk at check-in to make sure you have all the required documents. This way, you’ll know if you missed a document before you even get to the front of the line.

This story was originally published Lighthousefellow member KS Media Collective.