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Massive preparations support July 1 changes

When the Idaho Legislature ruled in favor of increasing vehicle-registration fees, they set a mid-summer timetable for the new fee structure. As soon as the gavel descended in April on House Bill 312, work began to prepare various ITD departments for the changes that were already barreling down the tracks on a collision course with the July 1 timeframe.

Under the bill, a variety of motor-vehicle fees would be assessed on annual registrations, including private and commercial vehicles.

“The complexity of the bill was driven by new fees that must be tracked as a separate line item throughout the system, and reported to Financial Services in separate fee accounts,” explained ETS Applications Manager Neil Snyder. Additionally, Snyder said hybrid and electric vehicle fees increased even more, which required the design of a new subsystem to identify these vehicle types from the Vehicle Identification Number, instead of relying on self-disclosure or inspection.

Separate teams tackled the various topics of county support, check scanning/Internet renewals support, private-vehicles Headquarters support, hybrid/electric vehicle detection, commercial vehicles support, dealers support, financial services reports, and renewal notices.
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“The development alone consumed about 1,000 hours, impacted 193 programs, and required new fee codes to be added to 6,000 profiles in the county system,” explained Synder.

“The development team consisted of six individuals working continuously through the period from legislative passage, right up to the July 1 effective date. In addition to the development, our partners in DMV and Financial Services helped to define the specific requirements and test the results. This truly was a team effort,” said Synder.

Beyond the legwork required to prepare ITD departments for the increased vehicle registrations, department employees also prepared for several other legislative mandates. Two new special license plates (Friends of NRA and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation) were approved by the legislature, ITD dealt with learners permitting as it relates to restrictions on the number of permits issued before a written test must be retaken, and a new method of looking at rental fleets with non-expiring paperwork and decals.

Pictured above is the development team who prepared the department for the July 1 changes. left to right,

Front Row – Sharon Griffin (DMV Vehicle Services), Chris Fisher (DMV Vehicle Services), Lisa McClellan (Financial Services – Revenue Ops)

Middle Row – Dann Mullen (ETS Application Developer), Doug Bizeau (Financial Services – Revenue Ops), Steve Gossard (ETS Application Developer)

Back Row – Paul Haskett (ETS Application Developer), Charles Parsons (ETS Application Developer), Darin Kidd (ETS Application Developer), Jeff Borup (ETS Application Developer)

Not pictured are the DMV Driver Services and DMV Commercial Vehicles participants.