Would a split from DOT fix the DMV?

North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek called for the separation of the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles from the Department of Transportation in an audit report released Monday.

The 435-page report found average wait times exceeding 1 hour and 15 minutes, with more than 13% lasting longer than 2.5 hours. That leads to longer travel distances, with nearly half of DMV customers bypassing their local office for a farther one in search of quicker service.

In a press conference unveiling the report Monday morning, Boliek said the economic impact to the state of a deficient DMV — including lost work days and school days from North Carolinians seeking license — justifies immediate intervention.

“Fixing the DMV is going to take buy-in from all levels of government,” Boliek said. “We’ve seen, for example, the response that our legislature and our citizens have given to western North Carolina when we have a disaster. Folks, the DMV is at that level of emergency.”

The report attributed inefficiency at the DMV in part to “structural challenges” inherent to being a division of NCDOT. It finds that the DMV has limited say in statewide decision-making, lacks budgetary autonomy, fails to consistently track performance, and has been excluded from major modernization efforts aimed at improving its functions.

Arguing that “DOT needs the DMV, not the other way around,” Boliek said the DMV generates roughly $2.2 billion in revenue, about 30% of the NCDOT revenue, but receives only 3% of its expenditures. He also pointed out that NCDOT has met only 31% of the DMV’s staffing requests — despite an increase of about 3 million residents in 20 years, the state has only added 52 license examiner positions, with 160 vacancies at present.

DMV Commissioner Paul Tine, who took over the agency in May, and NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins both oppose the split. In a response appended to the report, they wrote that shifting resources to managing a split would delay more immediate remedies to long wait times and staffing shortages.

“Separating would require significant resources and would distract from efforts to improve customer experience and operations at DMV,” they wrote. “DMV faces budgetary constraints that could be more effectively solved with other mechanisms.”

Instead, they requested the legislature approve an assessment of a new percentage of fees based funding model, rather than the current biennial appropriations model. That would allow the agency to receive greater funding which it could put toward new hires and other process improvements, they said.

Boliek said splitting off the DMV would not create a funding shortfall for NCDOT as “state dollars are oftentimes fungible.” But he argued it would better serve them by allowing the agency to report directly to the governor and communicate its budget needs through state level deliberations.

“They don’t need $2.2 billion to run the DMV. However, they operate with a pretty austere budget given what they’re asked to do on behalf of the citizens at $200 million a year,” Boliek said. “They’ve got the capacity, for example. to have the resources to pay for what they need. They just need to work together — the DMV, the legislature, and the governor’s office — to parse those dollars out correctly.”

Beyond structure, Boliek found that the DMV suffers from chronic employee burnout, with 160 driver’s license examiners positions sitting vacant and 43% of employees reporting negative views of support from previous leadership. Workers interviewed also complained about low pay and concerns over safety — including incidents where employees were followed out of the building and where a customer kicked in a glass pane out of frustration.

He called a General Assembly proposal to create 40 additional license examiner positions a “good start” but said the DMV will need even more positions and greater flexibility to resolve the long waits. A potential solution to low pay, Boliek said, is implementing market-based salaries to pay workers based on regional cost of living.

“Let’s just be honest about it, it costs more to live in Charlotte than it does in rural eastern North Carolina,” Boliek said. “We need to look at it from a pay standpoint of what we pay folks to get the job done.”

The auditor’s office also issued a separate 159-page report regarding information technology modernization efforts at the DMV, laying out a process by which they can pursue upgrades recommended by the legislature in 2024 that have yet to be implemented. “Operationally, the technology at DMV is frozen in time and it hinders efforts across the board for stakeholders.”

He praised Gov. Josh Stein for taking a serious approach to reform at the DMV, calling him “incredibly helpful” in conversations about improving efficiency. Boliek criticized past leadership for letting the issue become so severe, noting that “multiple governors have known about this.”

“I would assume that if the governor had been paying attention to what was going on previously, that something would have been done to assist the DMV,” Boliek said. “It didn’t happen overnight, these lines didn’t start when Gov. Stein took office, they started over time. And I quite frankly, you know, think that it’s just an issue of focus.”

Since his time on the campaign trail, Boliek has made an audit of the beleaguered agency a priority. “Folks, on day one, we’re starting with the DMV — a top to bottom audit of the DMV for economy and efficiency,” he said at a Selma rally with then-Sen. JD Vance in November. Now seven months into his term with an initial audit completed, Boliek said he’s just getting started.

“I’m a dog with a bone with this DMV,” Boliek said. “We are going to continue to shine a light on the DMV and put this forward, front and center, on the front burner until it’s fixed.”