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Treasurer urges state action on tag office server; county seeks discretion to raise service fee
Summary
Sedgwick County's treasurer and staff pushed for state funding to upgrade the statewide tag/vehicle registration server and for statutory changes to give county treasurers discretion to raise a county service fee (suggested cap $15) and convert a facility fee to a transaction fee to capture online/drop-box transactions.
Sedgwick County Treasurer Brandy Bailey and staff told commissioners on Oct. 21 that the county's tag-office operations are strained by an aging statewide server and insufficient fee revenue, and they asked the commission to include specific tag-office items in the county's legislative platform.
Bailey told the meeting the auto license program is a state-mandated function funded locally and that "the county service fee that's $5 now that comes directly to the counties...if we could increase that" it would provide revenue the treasurers need. County lobbyist Jason Watkins and the county's legislative contacts discussed a proposal to allow a county service fee up to $15, while capping it and giving discretion to local treasurers on exact amounts.
On the system side, county IT staff and the treasurer described recurring server instability with the statewide motor-vehicle technology (KDOT/MVD system). County CIO Scott Wagner said he did not know the full scope of the server but called it a state-managed system and said it should be a state appropriation; he added that physical server hardware is "commodity-based" and should not be excessively costly. At the meeting participants offered differing cost references: county staff estimated roughly $10,000'$25,000 for a server replacement in prior outreach, while another participant referenced a roughly $1,020,000 figure when discussing total replacement and related labor claims; county staff said they would research and provide a clearer cost estimate.
Other requests discussed: changing a $5 "facility" fee that currently applies only to in-person transactions into a broader "transaction fee" that also covers online and drop-box processing; staggering the five-year cycle for personalized plates; and exploring privatization of some administrative registration work in a separate, longer-term reform effort. Commissioners agreed to keep server funding and the service-fee/transaction-fee changes as top priorities for the platform and to remove privatization from the short-session priority list while pursuing it off-session.
Closing note: Staff and counsel will draft statutory language to present to legislative leaders; the county's lobbyist recommended focusing the county's short-session ask on the fee changes and the server appropriation to maximize chances in an abbreviated session.
