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BMV records kept secret from public

Privatizing government could keep more records from the public.

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By Josh Sweigart, Staff Writer 11:01 PM Friday, August 12, 2011

They may collect millions of dollars from area residents in fees, but the operators of the region’s busiest license offices — called deputy registrars — say how they spend money running their offices is none of the public’s business.

Efforts to privatize Ohio government functions to cut costs could increase the number of private agencies that look and sound like government offices but claim to fall outside the state’s public accountability laws.

An attempt by the Dayton Daily News to get copies of records that would show how the local deputy registrar offices spend the public fees they collect was rejected by local operators of the largest license bureaus, as well as by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

State BMV officials say Ohio’s public records laws do not require local BMV-contractors to reveal how they spend the money to operate their offices.

The state BMV itself does not know, a BMV spokesperson said.

Ohio’s public records law requires government agencies to disclose such records, and extends that requirement to private government contractors in some circumstances.

But with Ohio considering privatizing other functions — including prisons, charter schools and operations of the Ohio Turnpike — the position of the BMV illustrates a threat to the public’s ability to know how effectively its resources are being used, according to Dennis Hetzel, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association.

“As they privatize these items there is less ability to scrutinize how taxpayer money or the public’s money is spent,” said Hetzel. “How can you tell if you’re getting a good deal? How can you tell where their money is going?”

State Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, said of the BMV deputy registrar licensing agencies not releasing their finances: “I have to admit that bothers me because certainly the collection of fees they do is a public function.”

“It almost appears you need a special category out there for a public entity that is being privately run, you need a whole new set of rules,” she said.

‘It’s like a  consignment shop’

Sheryl Green, who runs the busiest license office in Montgomery County with 111,162 transactions in 2010, said her office doesn’t keep an expense budget.

She said she has eight employees earning between $8 and $12 an hour and a payroll clerk, and she is paid whatever is left over after operating expenses at the end of the year.

The office took in $439,284 in revenue from fees last year, according to revenue reports from the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the only information publicly available.

Ohio’s 200 deputy registrars contract to run their offices for three years at a time based on a competitive bid. Some of the bids are won by county auditors, clerks of court or nonprofit agencies, though the vast majority are run by private citizens.

Deputy registrars receive service fees of $3.50 for each vehicle, driver license and ID card transaction; and 90 cents for each vision screening performed.

The deputy registrars also get all the profit from other services the office provides at its own cost, such as title running services, passport photo services, or selling license plate frames, keychains and other items.

The state pays for the computers and equipment, and the deputy registrar provides the office and staffing.

“The BMV supplies all consumable inventory at our cost,” said Lindsey Bohrer, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, which oversees deputy registrars. “We absorb the costs for moves, installations, and pay for the computer and communications equipment and service.”

The state also provides about $100,000 per office in back-end administrative support.

“It’s like a consignment shop,” Green said. “They basically furnish the computer system and the plates, and they pay me a fee to (run the office).”

Deputy registrars only run the BMV license agencies. Driver exam stations are handled by the Highway Patrol, and title offices are run by each county’s clerk of courts.

Some estimates

Bonita Davis’ registrar office on the east side of Hamilton is the busiest in Butler County with $340,877 in revenue last year. She said she also doesn’t keep an expense budget.

But she said she doesn’t make much in salary, maybe $35,000 a year, plus benefits.

She said the costs of running her office include seven employees making about $13 an hour, plus benefits, as well as $2,800 a month in rent, $450 a month in utilities and $300 a month in telephone bills.

“My compensation is what’s left, if there is anything,” she said.

State guidelines require an office the size of Davis’ to have the equivalent of at least 5.7 full-time employees, and pay them at least minimum wage.

Davis was more forthcoming than other area deputy registrars. Michael Foley, whose Huber Heights license agency had the highest revenue in Montgomery County with $443,567 last year, referred all questions to state BMV officials. Those officials said they do not have records of how much he or his employees are compensated.

Kimberly McDavitt, whose Beavercreek BMV is the busiest in Greene County with 71,114 transactions last year and $284,562 in revenue, also refused to disclose how her office spends its money. “I’m not giving any information out,” she said.

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