The Registry of Motor Vechicle’s here in MA> which already has a bad reputation for customer service really doesn’t want you to go into their branches says a spokesperson.“We want to discourage people from going to the branches,” said Ann Dufresne, a spokeswoman for the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Also don’t call them because that will also cost $5
So to help keep people away Deval Patrick keeps giving us backdoor taxes in the forms of fees. Begining today it will cost you $5 if you walk into a Branch.
Customers will incur the new $5 fee if they speak with an RMV representative on the phone or go in to one of the 30 branches for the following services:
Renewing your driver’s license (except for the 10-year renewal required in person);
Getting a duplicate license or Massachusetts ID;
Renewing your registration; or
Requesting an attested driving record.
The fee won’t be charged for transactions completed online, by mail, or over the RMV’s automated phone system.
So the message is Please don’t disturb the Hacks at the Registry or it will cost you
Of course, another useful way to think of this situation is to regard the $5 as a positive bonus for doing things online.
Compared to a lot of government organizations, I’d say the RMV is better than quite a few, and deserving of big credit for the amount of improvement its made to itself over the past few years. Think about it: You can do many of the necessary transactions online, anytime, now, and that’s a good thing. If they’re trying to drive down other costs, well, I’d say that’s good on them, too.
The last point I’ll make is that blaming Deval Patrick for any of this just makes you look peevish and not all that enlightened. (I’m trying to be polite here–there are other adjectives I can think of). Deval is the governor, not head of the RMV, and this sort of patronage bureaucracy predates him and will outlast him, too.
The Registry is running better and does offer more on line services then other state run agencies.
However the elderly and unemployed on fixed incomes still have to go there and it was the GOV. who suggested the increase so don’t give him a pass. I’m not beating on him for his Party affiliation just his methods of taxing everything we do. Remember he’s the one who suggested a .19 Gas Tax and Tax on Candy and Soda yet did not try to cut the House Budget.
Let him show some real leadership and attempt to cut the HOUSE Perks (like carrying over 18 Million) and see if the members back down or in an election year have to take the cuts.
If I were the Gov. with my poll numbers I’d go after the House which is the biggest waste we have in State Gov’t.
As Gerry says, the $5 fee will affect those who can least afford to pay it. That’s not what good government is about. A better strategy would be to keep the fees at the same level, then give a $5 discount to those using the web. Incentive instead of punishment would accomplish the “stated” goal of having people use the web. Of course, we all know the REAL goal is a fee/tax increase.
Tough to defend this one KB