COLUMBIA, S.C. - Boat licenses would be handled by the Department of Motor Vehicles under a proposal by Gov. Mark Sanford.

The move would save $1.6 million, according to the governor's executive budget.

Most of the money would be saved on personnel. The boat licensing division at the Natural Resources Department has 27 employees, while the DMV has 1,200 employees in 68 offices.

DNR officials would not talk about the proposal, according to The (Columbia) State.

The proposal would also give boat owners in rural areas more choices. The DMV has offices in every county, while DNR allows new boat registrations only at 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. Most rural boat owners get their licenses through the mail.

That convenience interested Allen Strange of Lexington, who picked up a federal duck hunting license for an upcoming trip to Arkansas while he was registering his boat at DNR's Columbia office.

"I live up in Lexington," Strange said. "It would be great for me to do it up there."

Not everyone likes the new proposal.

"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."

Boats and their motors can be registered separately, and boats longer than 27 feet must be registered with the federal government.

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

DMV spokeswoman Beth Parks said licensing the state's 250,000 boats won't overwhelm the agency's new computer system.

"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.