Sanford’s budget : Boat licensing

Gov. Mark Sanford, in his executive budget, proposes moving boat license operations from the Department of Natural Resources to the Department of Motor Vehicles as a classic example of improving government efficiency.

The boat licensing division at the Department of Natural Resources has 27 employees. The Department of Motor Vehicles believes its 1,200 employees spread out over 68 offices could handle the extra work without hiring new staff.

The savings created by the change, according to Sanford’s budget, would be nearly $1.6 million. “This idea has merit,” the budget states.

Not everyone agrees.

“It’s hard enough for (DMV) to process the cars,” said Sherri Harris, who handles boat licensing as office manager at Carolina Boat and Yacht Sales in North Myrtle Beach. “A boat is much more complicated than a car.”

For instance, boats and their motors can be registered separately, and the motors don’t always stay with the boat. Boats 27 feet or longer can be documented at the federal government level. Those shorter than 27 feet are titled only with the state.

Harris said the Department of Motor Vehicles doesn’t fathom the intricacies. She would rather stick with status quo.

“My contacts at DNR are great,” Harris said. “They’ve got a really good system going. They know about boats.”

Some boat owners see positives in the change recommended by the governor.

Ken Smith left the Columbia DNR office Wednesday frustrated. He lives in Saluda County but gets his mail at a post office box in Lexington County. He was forced to register his boat in Lexington County because the DNR has to use a mailing address.

“I don’t have that problem with DMV,” Smith said. “They can put the physical address on the tax statement in Saluda and send the mail to Lexington.

“Next year, when Lexington sends me my taxes on my boat and motor, it’s going to be a mess.”

Allen Strange of Lexington got a federal duck hunting license for an upcoming trip to Arkansas while he was registering his boat at the Columbia office. But that convenience didn’t make up for having to drive to Columbia.

“I live up in Lexington,” Strange said. “It would be great for me to do it up there” at the local DMV office.

The convenience of handling boat transactions closer to home is one of the governor’s arguments for the change.

DMV has offices throughout the state, but the agency allows new boat registrations at only two offices, in Columbia and Charleston. Registration renewals are allowed at those two sites and at offices in Clemson, Florence and, on a temporary basis, Greenville. Many boat owners in rural areas handle their transactions through the mail.

Also, a few DMV offices are open on Saturdays. DNR’s offices aren’t.

Dealers who process dozens of boat registrations each month have few complaints with the service they receive from DNR, and many would rather stick with the process they know.

“When I’ve had to call DMV, I get a recording,” said Naomi Rhoden, business manager at Mid-Carolina Marine in West Columbia. “When I call DNR, I get a person.

“It’s bad enough at DNR in the summer to stand in line, but you don’t have a line nearly as long as at DMV.”

Of course, the major efficiency in the governor’s suggestion is personnel.

Natural Resources officials declined to comment on the plan. The employees in the Boat Titling and Registration division at DNR handled 205,000 transactions last year, resulting in about $6.3 million in receipts, according to agency records.

The Department of Motor Vehicles deals with 4 million cars. Recent computer upgrades have cut down on lines at the license offices. Taking on an addition 250,000 boats wouldn’t overwhelm the system, said Beth Parks, spokeswoman for the agency.

“We’d have to modify our system to include boats and train our employees, but it’s not something that we can’t do,” Parks said.

Reach Holleman at (803) 771-8366 or jholleman@thestate.com.