First, the good news.
The Kansas Department of Revenue has cut several dozen employees, thus saving Kansas taxpayers almost $2 million a year.
The bad news is, some of these employees worked for the Department of Motor Vehicles, whose duties would soon be shifted to the counties. Along with the transfer of responsibility, the DMV has imposed a new, monstrous computer system.
Clerks in Johnson County are required to perform the functions at the DMV windows. The new computer system is much more cumbersome, causing long waits at those windows. To be clear, the registering of vehicles is a state function, but it is carried out by county employees.
Johnson County has found it necessary to hire 16 additional people at an estimated cost to our budget of $800,000 a year, in order to deal with the backlog caused by the new system.
And that’s just Johnson County. Other large counties throughout the state may have to add employees to handle the new, wonky computer system, resulting in intolerable waits to register vehicles or renew titles.
Johnson County asked the state to go back to the old system. Johnson County has asked the state to allow their informational technology personnel to take a behind-the-scenes look at the computer system. They were finally granted that request last week.
The infamous new computer system that has led to hours and hours of wait times to register vehicles is still not functioning correctly, months after it was first implemented.
This fiasco could have been avoided by extensive, real-time testing in large population counties before launching a statewide change.
What we should have learned from this last travesty is that the new computer system requires far more effort by each clerk, thus doubling their time in handling each client.
Now, it was not supposed to be this way, of course. But it is. And in addition, computer glitches — including total computer crashes — have just added to the misery.
That has spilled over to the county treasurer’s office, who is the agent for the state for vehicle new titles and renewal titles.
A call to the treasurer’s office, to their Department of Motor Vehicles, now takes about a half an hour to get an answer.
So, now, even our well-run, usually efficient county has become a Russian-type bureaucratic nightmare, all because of what the state has done.
The buck stops at Nick Jordan, the Kansas secretary of the Department of Revenue and a former state legislator from Johnson County, who oversees the DMV. He approved the new system, which was greatly flawed, and thrust it on the state without adequate experimentation and preparation.
The worst may not be over. This fall, the Drivers’ License bureaus will get a new statewide computer system. Ominously, we all have every right to be concerned that soon there will be hours-long waits to renew our driver’s license.
If the new computer changeover for the Drivers’ License bureaus ends up with the same kind of results, heads should roll, and that includes Jordan’s.
| Special to The Star
Jeff Kocen
11 months, 1 week agoThank you Steve for presenting your perspective on the troubles at the DMV and roll the State Department of Revenue and its Secretary, Nick Jordan has this fiasco. I just wish there was some good news. Unfortunately, the shift of responsibilities by the state as part of the failed DMV software conversion has left the large counties, such as Johnson County struggling to keep up with the workload. If you are a Johnson County taxpayer, the annual subsidy you are paying to cover the cost over and above what is reimbursed by the state is $420,000. Now, due to the shift of responsibilities, JOCO must now hire 16 additional positions in the DMV at an annual cost of around $820,000. Therefore, the annual subsidy jumps to $1.2 million. So forget it if you thought the DMV software conversion called the “Modernization Project” was design to enhance efficiencies and reduce costs. These positions are required to handle the additional workload and system efficiencies of the new software installed by the state in May. This project appears to have been mismanaged from the start under the prior administration when the only bidder was 3M. As you point out, where was the real-time testing in a large county? How did the State allow 70,000 records to become corrupted during the data conversion? This is another major headache the county has to deal causing delays. Three immediate measures the Governor can take to alleviate some of the problems and delays are to: • Eliminate fees for using the online KSWEBTAGS site to register your vehicle. The JOCO Commissioners sent a letter to the Governor requesting this. • Go to daily updates of the insurance database. Updates today are every 45 days so if you have new insurance or a renewal it cannot be looked up online. • Request Nick Jordan to resign or fire him along with the Director of Vehicles and chief sponsor of the software conversion, Donna Shelite Last week you used the failed DMV conversion as analogy to the how the State might handle the KanCare implementation. That says a lot. We need to hold our officials accountable. So far, Mr. Jordan and now even the Governor, has not taken accountability. It took Mr. Jordan until June 29 to make a formal apology to the citizens of Kansas, nearly two months.
Burdett Loomis
11 months, 1 week agoThis is the tip of the icebeg in Brownbackistan. You cannot cut and cut and cut governmental personnel, often driving out the most talented and dedicated, without consequences, often severe, down the line. The Topeka Juvenile facility is also an example (though the problems probably run deeper).On the horizon: Medicaid privatization. This state desperately needs to have a reasoned (!!!!) discussion about how much government to have. Under current circumstances, not likely.
Jeff Kocen
11 months, 1 week agoI agree that our very conservative KS government has gone too far right. Being a Republican I am seeing State Representatives and Senators such as Ray Merrick and Mary Pilcher-Cook doing what is best for Brownback and not the people that voted them in office. Please ask tough questions of those in office this year and not let them retain positions where all they do is rubber stamp what the Governor wants.