Full Report (PDF) - Office of the Legislative Auditor

Deputy Registrar FinancesCHAPTER 3This chapter examines the revenues and expenses of public and private deputyregistrars and of the Department of Public Safety's walk-up and mailservices. We ask:• How much does it cost the state to process motor vehicle and driver'slicense transactions for walk-in customers? How much does it cost toprocess motor vehicle transactions by mail?• How much does it cost public deputy registrars to process vehicle anddriver's license transactions? How does the cost per transaction varyamong public deputies? Are there economies of scale?• What is the cost per transaction for non-profit deputy registrars?• How profitable are private deputy registrars? How does income varyby size of deputy?:METHODSOur financialanalysis isbased on asample of 101deputyregistrars.To analyze deputy registrnr revenues and expenses, we asked for financial informationfrom the Deparbnent of Public Safety and from a sample of 109 deputyregistrars. We stratified deputy registrars by size and type (public, private, andnon-profit), grouping deputies into four size categories based on the average annualnumber of transactions (fewer than 12,000, 12,000-24,000, 24,000-60,000,and more than 60,000).1 Our sample included all five non-profit deputy registrars,all 25 deputy registrars with more than 60,000 transactions per year (16 public and9 private, for-profit deputies), and 10 to 13 deputies from each of the other sixgroups (defined by 3 size categories and whether they are public or private). Weobtained responses from 104 deputies, a response rate of95 percent. We excludedthree deputies because we could not obtain reliable infonnation. As a result, ouranalysis is based on a sample of 101 deputy registrars.1 Based on Department of Public Safety data on motor vehicle and driver's license transactions forfiscal years 1992 and 1993, and Department ofNaturaI Resource data on watercraft, snowmobile,and A TV registration transactions for fiscal year 1992.