Polk County recently received state approval to run its own license plate office with plans to house the new tag office, the driver’s license office and its tax office in the current early college building.
The Polk County Board of Commissioners met June 2 and announced the recent approval from the state.
Commissioner Keith Holbert was credited with getting a license plate office located in Polk County and said what the county has in mind is to have a driver’s license office, the tax and tag office all together. He said the tentative opening of the new office is Sept. 3, 2014.
Holbert said interim county manager Marche Pittman will manage the new tag office and has expressed his intentions to try to break even.
“I think this will be much easier on our older population,” Holbert said.
Holbert said he wants to encourage Polk residents to use the new office instead of ordering new registrations online, which will shift money from the state to the county.
“I’m confident we can better utilize our tax dollars than our neighbors do,” Holbert said.
He said the state currently keeps 2 and 2.5 percent for online transactions.
Pittman said whether or not the local office profits, breaks even or loses money will depend on the revenues.
He said the department of transportation asked Polk to review Yancey County and trends in other counties to get an idea.
“We could potentially break even,” Pittman told commissioners.
Commissioner Ray Gasperson said he’s done some research and was told there’s a $1.07 fee for every vehicle tax collection. Gasperson said there is also apparently major costs for getting started, some of which is the training required, which includes sending someone to Raleigh for three weeks.
Gasperson also said he called the Raleigh office and asked if they could do some research on how many people in Polk County actually walk into a license plate office.
Gasperson said he was told there are between 2,000 and 2,500 transactions per month from Polk residents.
Gasperson said he hopes this works out for Polk, but is concerned, particularly because the upcoming budget proposal does not have funding for the new office. He has previously said he doesn’t want to grow county government. Gasperson also expressed concern that there’s been an assumption the county is going to house the office in the old library (early college building), but frankly, there’s never been a discussion by the board.
He said the utility bill for the building is $1,000 per month and asked what the renovation costs will be, the condition of the heating and cooling of the building and estimated costs for moving the tax office.
“As part of our due diligence we ought to look at the fair market value of the building,” Gasperson said.
He said if the county sold the building it could use the building for some other use, mentioning the possibility of housing the sheriff’s office administrative services there, or renting the building. If the county sold the building it could use the money for economic development, Gasperson said.
Holbert said if commissioners ask its older citizens sitting on a bench in the heat and the rain waiting for driver’s license services it may be worth it to them.
Polk County Tax Administrator Melissa Bowling said Polk does average between 2,000 and 2,500 transactions per month and the county could bring in between $18,000 and $26,000 per year just in notary fees.
She also said the state charges up to a three percent fee for online transactions, which Polk County has to absorb.
The more personal transactions in the tag office the less the county will have to absorb, she said.
Holbert said having a tag office located in Polk County will save citizens on fuel costs and every time someone purchases a new vehicle they are required to go to a tag office.
Currently, most Polk residents go to the tag office in either Henderson or Rutherford County.
Commissioner chair Ted Owens said the building needs to be used as a government building and it will be an advantage to have the license, tax and tag office all located in the same building.
Commissioner vice-chair Michael Gage said anytime the county can provide a service for people in the county it is worth it.
He mentioned other services that cost money, such as the public pool, saying Polk has an elderly population who will now not have to make a trip up the mountain for license plate services.
During citizen comments, Scott Woodworth thanked commissioners and Holbert especially for his hard work.
Woodworth said hopefully Polk will make money and said Polk may see transactions from Henderson and Rutherford County residents as well.
Resident Rickie McFalls said, “excellent, excellent, excellent. We needed this.”
He said he just made a trip last Friday to purchase three tags.
“I’d love to just come right up here and see Melissa and her folks,” McFalls said. “That would be quick, easy and to the point.”
He also thanked Holbert for staying on the issue and getting it done.
Holbert said getting a tag office in Polk was not a single person effort. He thanked the majority of the board for their support.
The county agreed earlier this year to take out an $800,000 loan to purchase and renovate a building near the high school to move the early college out of the old library building on Walker Street in downtown Columbus.
The school requested the move in order to get the early college students closer to the high school to be more involved with school activities.
Renovations to the building have begun with hopes to be completed by the start of the new school year in August.
Pittman was sent a letter on May 27 from Portia Manley, acting director, vehicle services section with the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Division of Motor Vehicles approving the county to run its own tag office.
“You have been selected to operate the Columbus License Plate Agency (LPA) in Polk County, North Carolina,” Manley said in the letter. “We will provide you with the LPA contract, SOP and equipment lease for your signature at a later date.”
The letter continued to say that Pittman’s “management and customer service experience will be an asset for your continued success as a newly commissioned contractor and the state looks forward to working with Polk and pledges its support.