Miami Herald: Florida drivers race to beat higher license, tag fees

BY MARC CAPUTO AND JOSE PAGLIERY
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

JOSHUA PREZANT / Photo by Joshua Prezant Joshua Harris, far right, has been waiting in for over 4 hours at the West Regional Courthouse Monday morning. Florida drivers wait on a very long line to get their vehicle registration, disabled parking permits, license, or mobile home registration renewed at the West Regional Courthouse in Plantation. With the cost of nearly every driving fee scheduled to rise Tuesday, drivers from across the state flooded motor-vehicle offices to renew their licenses and motor-vehicle tags to avoid having to pay more to the government. The state’s website was even worse. So many people tried to log on to renew tags and licenses that it shut down the state’s Virtual Office computer system on and off all day since Friday. Desperate to avoid higher fees that take effect Tuesday, Florida motorists clogged driver’s-license and tax collector offices across the state, leading to long lines and crashing the state’s overwhelmed computer system.

Sept. 1, 2009 — By day’s end, the state temporarily closed citizen access to its “Virtual Office” website until 8 p.m. That allowed regional driver’s-license offices and county tax collectors to serve the people who had waited for hours.

It was already too late for many.

“I’ve had heavy traffic all day, with 60 people waiting for long periods, and it hasn’t helped that the system keeps going down,” said Fernando Casamayor, Miami-Dade’s tax collector.

Broward’s tax collector couldn’t be reached. Callers to his office were frequently greeted with busy signals.

Casamayor, like tax collectors and other officials throughout the state, passed out what he called “rain checks” to anyone who stood in line but had to leave by the end of business Monday without renewing a driver’s license, tag or title.

The vouchers can be redeemed until Sept. 10.

As of midnight, nearly every driving fee was increased. The most common type of driver’s licenses increased from $27 to $48. Initial vehicle registration fees rose from $100 to $225. Title fees jumped from $24 to $70.

The increases were part of a package of tax and fee hikes passed this spring by the Florida Legislature, which raised a total of $2.2 billion in new revenue to close a budget hole. A host of state government services now cost more, from visiting parks to buying fishing licenses to filing many court documents.

Unhappy at the prospect of having to pay more, people like Miami’s Delia Alvarez stood in the 90-degree heat outside the the motor vehicle office at 901 NW 39th Ave. on Monday morning. Alongside 50 others, she waited more than three hours — all to save $28 on her driver’s-license renewal.

“Those are $28 I can use to buy milk, eggs, bread,” the stay-at-home mom said. “People don’t have enough to eat, and they keep raising prices.”

Maribel Diaz, who works at a sewing factory in Little Havana, said every dollar counts.

“If you’re making minimum wage, it’s worth the wait,” she said.

As the state’s computer system flickered on and off, the wait for everyone grew longer and longer. One staff member said the simple task of taking someone’s picture — normally done in a few seconds — was taking 10 minutes per photograph.

Dave Westberry, spokesman for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said the state’s online site normally handles fewer than 400,000 transactions a dayfrom government offices and from individuals logging on from computers at home or work.

But on Friday, when more people tried to beat the fee hikes, the number rose to nearly 900,000 attempts. He said the number was likely higher Monday before the state pulled the plug on direct citizen access to the system.

“The system can’t handle the volume,” Westberry said. “The pipeline isn’t designed for all these people.”

Amid the unpopular fees increases, Democrats took the opportunity to blame Republicans in the Legislature.

Rep. Franklin Sands, the Democratic House leader from Weston, said the fees were simply “a tax on hard-working Floridians.” He said Republicans should have eliminated sales-tax exemptions on businesses instead.

“That’s easier said than done,” countered Miami Republican Rep. J.C. Planas, who accused Sands of political opportunism. Also, he pointed out, many of the fees hadn’t risen in 20 years.

While the political back-and-forth played out, people like Iris Bardales and Tony Lopez, both unemployed, stood outside the Miami motor vehicle office for more than an hour and groused that they couldn’t pay the government much more.

“They want more money from people who don’t have any,” he said. “It’s all take, no give.”

St. Petersburg Times staff writer Steve Bousquet contributed to this report. Marc Caputo can be reached at mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com