Kootenai County staff propose raising DMV title administration fee from $8 to $10; public hearing timing discussed

Assessor Kovacs told the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 14 that staff plans to seek a public hearing to raise the county's DMV title administration fee from $8 to $10 to better cover program costs and align with nearby counties.

The change would be initiated by publishing a notice for a public hearing; Assessor Kovacs said the hearing would be scheduled for the week of Nov. 3 but noted that falls during election week. Staff also said they are integrating a call-queue system with the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) to accept more calls, but that the new system will not generate enough additional revenue to close the gap.

The proposal arrives after budget-cycle work with the auditor's office, which recommended an increase. —The purpose of this item is really to get on the same page as far as timing for a public hearing to increase our title admin fee,— Assessor Kovacs said. —So we're gonna ask to move forward with the increase from an $8 fee to a $10 fee.—

Commissioner Matari reiterated a legal limit on fees, saying the county cannot charge more than it costs to provide the service, and indicated support for moving to a public hearing. Assessor Kovacs confirmed staff had run the numbers with the auditor's office and had coordinated with ITD on operational changes.

Why it matters: Title administration fees are charged to vehicle owners during title processing; even modest per-transaction fee changes affect many residents and the county's revenue assumptions in its budget cycle. Commissioners flagged scheduling concerns because the proposed hearing week includes Nov. 3, which is a regular business day and coincides with an election week.

Discussion points and staff clarifications included that the county is aligning fees with Shoshone and Bonner counties, coordinating with the auditor's office on fee calculations, and integrating call-queue technology with ITD to handle more transactions, though that integration alone is insufficient to replace the proposed fee increase.

The board did not take formal action during the status meeting; commissioners indicated they were prepared to move forward with the public hearing process and asked staff to proceed with noticing and scheduling.

The county did not provide exact dates for the legally required notice publications during the meeting; Assessor Kovacs said the notice —would run the 20 first and the 20 eighth— (phrase as spoken) and that the public hearing would be scheduled the week of Nov. 3. The exact publication dates and the final hearing date were not specified at the meeting.

Next steps: Staff will prepare and publish the required hearing notice and return with a finalized hearing date for the board to consider at a future meeting. No formal vote or ordinance was adopted at the Oct. 14 status update meeting.