It sounds like a tycoon's dream come true.
A business with a built-in customer base of 5 million people who will wait in line
for an hour or more to buy its products.
A huge profit margin -- better than 1,000 percent. Every dollar invested in
overhead returns about $14.
And there will never be a competitor. Ever.
If you live in Massachusetts, you own a piece of this business.
But you are likely one of its hapless customers, too.
The business is the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.
With $807 million in revenue last year, it is the second-biggest generator of
money for the state, said Registrar Richard D. Lyons. The registry is outdone only by the
massive state Department of Revenue, which collects income and sales taxes.
With an entity that brings in that much money and has direct dealings with five
out of six Massachusetts residents, you might think there would be enough money -- and
enough will on the part of state leaders -- to take care of the busy signals on its phone
lines and the frustratingly long lines that people often face at its offices.
Over the past two months, The Eagle-Tribune has documented numerous examples of
long waits at offices in Lawrence and elsewhere.
But registry officials say service, overall, is quite good. It's the customers who
are out of whack.
In the words of one registry document: "the public's perception of the agency
does not align with reality."
Critics say the registry is such a cash cow for the state that little thought is
given to making it more efficient or to spending money to improve customer service.
In fact, there are plans afoot to use it to squeeze even more money from taxpayers
-- in part to offset the staggering cost of Boston's "Big Dig."
"They get you in so many different ways,"
said an exasperated Chip Ford of Citizens for Limited Taxation, the non-profit group that
has led efforts for 20 years to roll back or limit state tax hikes. "They've got a
captive market," he said. "It's not like you can go to another registry."
Mr. Ford said he has been trying to look into the
registry's finances but his phone calls are not returned.
Similar requests for information by The Eagle-Tribune also met with resistance,
and the registry only turned over a portion of the information that was asked for after
being repeatedly browbeaten by the governor's office, the Executive Office of Public
Safety, and the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
But what emerged from that information, as well as interviews with several state
officials and observers, is an image of an agency that rakes in an enormous profit.
At the same time, it seems to have almost no comprehension of the frustrations
that citizens experience when they do registry business.
The cash cow
As a money-making machine, the registry is hard to beat.
The registry's budget is about $57 million, but it brings in about $800 million in
license and registration fees, tickets, sales taxes and other fees. That income represents
about 8 percent of the state's entire budget of $20.5 billion.
In the private sector, it would be a capitalist's dream.
"My God, that's incredibly profitable," said William T. Ryan, president
of Ryan Financial in Andover, when given the figures. "I don't think there are many
businesses out there with that kind of profit margin."
In the mutual fund industry, which Mr. Ryan studies closely, a healthy profit
margin is considered to be one that brings in $2 for every $1 spent.
Compared with other state bureaucracies, the registry has lagged far behind in
terms of the amount of money plowed back into its operation.
According to figures gathered by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the state
budget has risen 71 percent since 1988. The registry's budget has gone up only 21 percent
in that time.
In comparison, public school and college spending is up 89 percent, while help for
the sick, retarded and disabled is up 64 percent. Spending on jails has risen by 142
percent.
When setting the registry's budget, the state never considers the customers, or
how many offices there are to serve them and how many hours those offices are open, said
state Sen. James P. Jajuga, D-Methuen.
"No one ever looks at that part of the equation," said Sen. Jajuga, who
chairs the Joint Committee on Public Safety, which has some oversight of the Registry.
"That's an area where we shouldn't nickel and dime it, and unfortunately,
that's what we did," he said.
The registry's budget is chiefly set by Gov. A. Paul Cellucci's financial
analysts, based on requests made by the registry as filtered through the Executive Office
of Public Safety.
Registrar Lyons said he gets about as much money as he requests. And the money he
gets is enough to run the registry well, although improvements can be made, he said.
Hiring employees and keeping them is sometimes hard, particularly in the area's
hot job market, he said. Entry-level registry jobs pay about $20,000 a year.
The work is intensive, requires a fair amount of training and exposes employees to
a sometimes rude public. As a result, the registry depends upon many temporary workers,
said Mr. Lyons.
"It's a tough job," he said. "You can make almost the same amount
working at a convenience store."
But hiring more workers to fill in the empty windows customers see at registry
offices is not necessarily the answer.
"The simple solution is to add more people, but that is just putting a salve
on the problem," he said.
The registry's answer is a shift in policy
It is trying to get more people to use the Internet to do their business, and has
set up a major phone bank so people can conduct their business without ever visiting an
office.
It has also expanded service to auto dealerships and plans to do the same with
insurance agencies.
The goal is to improve service while cutting expenses even more.
But there are problems with that.
According to the registry's own survey, only about half of its customers have
Internet access.
That leaves about 2.5 million people who would either have to call the phone bank
or visit an office.
Lack of Internet access is a problem that is particularly hard on citizens in poor
cities like Lawrence, said Sen. Jajuga.
And the phone bank's response is "abysmal," said Mr. Lyons.
"About 50 to 60 percent of the calls can't get through," he said. The
registry has requested $5 million from the state to improve the phone service.
The 19-minute wait
But while Mr. Lyons admits some deficiencies, overall he sees improvements now and
even more in the future.
His statistics show that customers wait, on average, about 19 minutes in line.
He acknowledges there are longer waits on occasion at some offices, such as
Lawrence, which he considers to be one of the most rundown offices in the system.
The registry's creation of "super centers," such as the Stadium Plaza in
Lawrence in October, will make the waits at problem offices even shorter, he said.
"There's no question in my mind that given a fair shot, the Stadium Plaza
super center will be something that people in Lawrence will be proud of, that legislators
will be proud of, and the registry will be proud of," he said.
But Mr. Lyons and other officials deny that waits of two hours or more and lines
going out the door are routine -- though both have been documented repeatedly by The
Eagle-Tribune over the past two months.
In fact, the registry claims that the public's "perception" of bad
service is just an illusion that does not correspond with reality.
"As shown in our recent customer survey results, the public's perception of
the Agency does not align with reality," states the Registry's 1998 "Strategic
Plan Initiative."
The plan was issued by the Registry to its staff in 1998 "to define our
future and develop a roadmap to take us there."
It states: "The public views the Registry of Motor Vehicles as a state agency
with long wait lines, poor quality, and unfriendly service ... until they actually visit
us."
The agency's answer is to conduct a publicity campaign and buy a "mobile
service van" to improve its image.
"Given this gap between perception and reality, the Agency is committed to
improving communication to the public through our outreach programs and our local public
relations campaign," the report states.
Linked to Big Dig
There are some on Beacon Hill who think the registry needs to rake in even more
cash.
A handful of Democrats, among them Sen. Robert A. Havern, D-Arlington, chairman of
the Transportation Committee, are pushing to get rid of the "lifetime" license
and registration system.
The cost to drivers would be $33.50 yearly for registrations and $35 every five
years for licenses.
For registry users, that could mean even longer lines.
The fact that the state is switching to lifetime licenses is one of the factors
that Mr. Lyons cites for improved services at registry offices.
Gov. Cellucci is not in favor of getting rid of the lifetime system.
His mentor, Gov. William F. Weld, pushed it through in the early 1990s. Under that
system, your license and registration are automatically renewed at no cost, as long as you
have paid all of your traffic and parking tickets.
Next year, when the free renewals start to take widespread effect, the state will
lose $55 million in registration and license fees -- money it needs for highway
improvements, argues Sen. Havern.
Among those arguing for ending the free renewals is the venerable Massachusetts
Taxpayers Foundation, a think tank that has been studying state spending for 67 years.
President Michael Widmer said cuts in federal highway money, the looming costs of
the Big Dig and a possible budget crunch in the near future make it important to restore
those fees.
"The money goes into highway funds, so clearly it makes sense," he said.
"That's why we argued for the fees to be restored."
The Big Dig project -- designed to put Boston's elevated Central Artery
underground so it no longer cuts off the city's waterfront -- will cost upwards of $11
billion. It is already draining away money for other projects.
Mr. Widmer said he felt "uncomfortable" commenting on the service that
people receive at the registry, because his organization has not studied it.
But he conceded the registry should provide top-shelf service, given the fact that
it is probably used by more residents than any other state agency.
"As the number one agency dealing with Massachusetts citizens, it's
reasonable to expect they would have the highest level of service," said Mr. Widmer.
If lawmakers try to bring the fees back, they will have a fight on their hands. Mr. Ford of Citizens for Limited Taxation sued the state in the
early 1990s over registry fees, arguing that the drafters of the Massachusetts state
constitution decreed that no fee could be higher than the cost of the service they pay
for.
The state settled out of court, and the lifetime
system was part of the settlement.
"Those old founders, they knew what was
coming," Mr. Ford said.
"It seems like every few years someone tries
something like this. Clearly we're falling back into that trap."
Next Story: Long lines, frustrating
waits at other offices
Monday, July 5, 1999
http://www.eagletribune.com/
