State’s update to save a drive

Vehicle services expanded online

among people waiting at the state’s central revenue office in Little Rock, Gov. Asa Hutchinson told residents Friday that they could “skip the trip” and, for the first time, register their vehicles, pay sales taxes and order new license plates online.

Hutchinson touted the new online services at a morning news conference, saying the changes potentially could save Arkansans hundreds of thousands of hours of waiting at state revenue offices.

There were 643,000 passenger vehicles registered at revenue offices last year, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.

“Through this new service, Arkansans purchasing a new or used vehicle may conduct all follow-up business from the comfort of their own home,” Hutchinson’s office said in a release. “Today’s announcement is a strong example of our transformation efforts in action, improving the day-today lives of citizens.”

The new services are available via the website mydmv. arkansas.gov, which launched Jan. 18.

More than half of revenue office services are now available online, according to a finance department spokesman, including the renewal of car tags, ordering a personalized license plate, ordering a duplicate driver’s license and submitting a change of address.

Among the services still requiring a trip to a brick-andmortar office are obtaining a new driver’s license, specialty license plate (like the ones depicting the Arkansas Razorbacks logo) or registering a motorcycle or boat.

In the past year, Hutchinson has repeatedly called for government efficiency and consolidation. But he said Friday’s announcement was not a precursor to shrinking the number of revenue offices in the short term.

“The goal is not to, today, start closing down revenue offices,” Hutchinson said. “This is not a new initiative we have, that’s part of an ongoing initiative. … This is probably the biggest step, because it’s something everybody has to do when they acquire a new or used vehicle.”

The governor continued, “What happens 10 years from now as more and more is done online, we’ll have to wait and see in terms of whether we can decrease the number of revenue offices or not.”

There are 135 revenue offices across the state, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.

In a waiting area near where Hutchinson held his news conference, Ophelia Dedner, 62, and her fiance, Kiril Jones, 73, said they understood Hutchinson’s point about waiting in line. The couple, who were looking to register a new vehicle, said they had just left the revenue office in southwest Little Rock after finding it too crowded, and tried their luck at the central office, which had a more manageable number of customers.

Still, the couple expressed skepticism that the governor’s initiative was for them.

“It’s so many complicated things, it’ll probably be difficult to do online without an individual walking me through it,” Dedner said.

Nearby, self-professed “computer-illiterate” Michael Rhoderick, 63, waited with his wife, Karen, after driving from Kentucky to get a duplicate title for his truck, which he said he lost in a recent move.

While that particular service still requires a trip to the office, Rhoderick said, “Online would probably be easier for a lot of people.”

In his case, he said Karen, 60, uses the computer, and could help him if his new state adopted similar services.

Finance department Director Larry Walther said a recent study had found revenue offices — or motor vehicle departments in other states — were ranked as the worst places to have to wait, ahead of doctors offices and airports.

“If you look across the country, you see states considering how to best incorporate technology in the way they conduct business at the DMV,” Walther said. “Arkansas is leading the way.”

According to a handout from the finance department, the only other states to offer online vehicle registration are Pennsylvania, Nevada and South Carolina.

Among the services still requiring a trip to a brick-and-mortar office are obtaining a new driver’s license, specialty license plate or registering a motorcycle or boat.