But DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin says many of those problems come down to simple math: The agency doesn’t have enough people to staff its existing driver’s license offices, let alone open new ones in places like the Triangle and Charlotte that could use them.
And, Goodwin says, lawmakers can help solve that problem.
North Carolina’s population has grown by about 2.4 million people since 2003, or about 29 percent. Yet the DMV says in that time it has been authorized to open only three new driver’s license offices and hire no additional driver’s license examiners.
When the DMV opened a new office in East Raleigh in 2021, it brought in people from other offices and still can only operate about half of the 15 workstations for license examiners there. Last week, the agency took the unusual step of closing two driver’s license offices indefinitely because they were short-staffed.
The General Assembly sets the number of people who can work in DMV driver’s license offices. That number is capped at 568.
But the DMV says it needs 70 more than that to fully operate its 115 driver’s license offices statewide. Those 638 employees would include examiners to run the workstations, plus someone to meet customers at the door or outside to make sure they’re in the right place and have the documents they need.
Goodwin says he regularly hears from people about poor service at the driver’s license offices.
“And a recurring theme is, ‘You need more people. You need more staff. Why aren’t y’all providing more people to do this? Why are the lines so long?’” Goodwin said in an interview. “The lines aren’t long — the wait times aren’t long — because we don’t have awesome employees. It’s because we don’t have enough employees.”
DMV Needs More Staff
Last winter, the agency asked for permission to hire 40 more license examiners at a cost of $2.6 million for pay and benefits. Goodwin, a former lawmaker who previously led the state Department of Insurance, said the DMV asked for only 40 because he understands compromise is part of the budget process. He noted that the governor’s proposed budget cut the DMV’s request in half to 20.
But lawmakers didn’t provide any, because they didn’t authorize the increase or pass a new budget.
The House version of the budget, which died in the Senate this summer, would have directed the N.C. Department of Transportation to create up to 20 new driver’s license examiner positions by reclassifying vacant jobs elsewhere in the department.
Sen. Mike Woodard of Durham, who sits on the Senate appropriations committee for transportation, called that a shell game that would have just created problems elsewhere at NCDOT.
Woodard, a Democrat, said it’s “beyond time” for lawmakers to provide the DMV with the workers it needs to properly serve its customers.
“It is one of the most engaged, active and visible functions of state government,” he said in an interview. “You’d be hard pressed to think of another department that has that much direct face-to-face contact with the people of North Carolina, and why we can’t staff it is beyond me.”
Republicans Control Spending in the General Assembly
Republican leaders of the House transportation appropriations committee and Speaker Tim Moore’s office did not respond to requests for comment. Senate leader Phil Berger’s office deferred questions to Sen. Michael Lazzara, one of three Republicans who lead the Senate appropriations committee on transportation.
Lazzara says Goodwin did not begin asking for new positions in driver’s license offices until this year and has not asked for money or authority to open new offices since he became commissioner in early 2022.
Lazzara is an outspoken critic of the DMV who called the agency“a source of frustration and disruption to the lives of our citizens” during a hearing with Goodwin last spring. He says the DMV has deeper problems beyond staffing.
“Simply adding more positions doesn’t mean that customer service will suddenly become exemplary, especially when you have an agency that is mismanaged and makes decisions based on politics, not what is best for North Carolinians,” Lazzara wrote in an email. “Legislators are open to discussing ways to improve the DMV services, but the DMV has not been forthcoming with Senators and staff.”
Lawmakers hear many of the same complaints that Goodwin does about long lines and poor customer service. The DMV’s slow pace in replacing outdated software systems and streamlining its operations has prompted lawmakers to talk of privatizing more of its functions.
Goodwin says the DMV is making progress. It has signed an agreement with the state of Arizona to use its cloud-based operating system to replace the agency’s aging computer programs. The system will allow customers to create accounts and see all their records and do more business online, reducing trips to the office.
It will likely take three to five years for North Carolina to adapt the system and get it up and running, the agency told lawmakers last winter.
‘In Virginia, They Don’t Have This Problem’
The shortages are more keenly felt in the Triangle and Charlotte, where new residents pour in every week. Many need their first North Carolina driver’s license, which requires a trip to the DMV.
Drew Duckett recently moved from Virginia to Johnston County when he took a sales job. During his lunch break last Tuesday, Duckett stopped into the DMV office in Clayton hoping to get his license. Discouraged by the long line, he tried the Garner office and found the same.
Wednesday, Duckett got to the Raleigh office on Avent Ferry Road at about 1 p.m. The DMV reserves the afternoon hours for walk-in customers, and Duckett says he was told so many had signed up already that he wouldn’t be seen that day.
So he returned Thursday at noon with a lawn chair. He was able to get his name on the list of walk-ins. Four-and-a-half hours later, Duckett left with his new North Carolina license.
“In Virginia, they don’t have this problem,” he said. “There’s always a line, but you’re not standing outside in 90-degree heat. You’re inside, and the line’s moving. There’s a guy checking you in, making sure you have everything, and the line moves.”
Vacancy Rate at DMV Offices Has Dropped
The DMV hasn’t asked for more workers in its driver’s license offices until this year because it had a hard time filling the job openings it had, said spokesman Marty Homan. More than 25 percent of driver’s license examiner’s jobs were vacant in September 2021, and simply asking for more positions didn’t make sense, Homan said.
But by last December, the vacancy rate had dropped to under 11 percent, low enough that Goodwin thought it worth asking for permission to hire more.
Lawmakers had a hand in reducing that vacancy rate. The 2021 budget created a special fund to boost salaries for DMV workers by up to 5 percent. A year later, the General Assembly also provided money that allowed the agency to offer one-time $1,500 sign-on and retention bonuses to driver’s license examiners.
But Democrats say relatively low pay still makes it difficult for the DMV to hire enough workers, particularly in urban areas where people have plenty of better-paying options. Following a 3 percent raise for all state employees this summer, the starting annual salary for a driver’s license examiner is $43,366.
Democrats say that’s just not competitive.
“License examiners have a very tough job, and underpaying them is just a recipe for disaster,” Rep. Allison Dahle, a Democrat from Raleigh, said in a written statement earlier this summer. “The legislature should be focusing more on higher pay for examiners to reverse the backlog.”
Staff Shortages Hard on Workers, Too
Customers aren’t the only ones frustrated with the shortage of DMV workers. Employees say they’re stretched thin, and that people frustrated and grumpy about long lines often direct their anger at them.
“There are days when we’re just constantly beat up all day long, and no one is stopping to say, ‘Hey, are you OK? Do you need a break? What can we do for you guys?’” said a supervisor at a driver’s license office in the Triangle who asked that his name not be used. “We’re in distress, and no one seems to care that we’re screaming for help.”
The supervisor says the agency heightens the stress when it adds Saturday hours or tacks on an hour to the weekday — moves designed to give customers more flexibility. That only stretches an already thin staff, he said.
“It’s a pressure cooker, in my opinion,” he said. “People are becoming more and more demanding and aggressive with what they want from DMV. And the people on the front lines are the ones that take the hits every single day.”
The agency acknowledges that vacancies and inadequate staff can burn out employees, and lead to turnover that perpetuates the problems. Last winter, the DMV reported that it had hired 413 driver license examiners since the beginning of 2021. During that time, it lost 318, a majority of whom left state government.
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