Taxing Time at the Tax Collector’s Office

Written by R.S. Pienta on 22 December 2009 — 1 Comment

I am usually a staunch advocate of state employees. Most state workers do a largely thankless and often underpaid job, yet do it admirably well. My husband is a former state worker and I have, previously, also drawn a state paycheck. Yesterday, however, was not the finest hour at a certain tax collector’s office in Tallahassee.

Here is what happened, as recounted by my husband:

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I came to the Tax office at the corner of Appalachee Pkwy and Capital Circle with the desire to get a temporary tag for my motorcycle. This motorcycle was previously tagged by me, but the tag was transferred to my new bike. I now want to take the old bike to a different dealer in town and drop it off for them to sell on consignment.

I went to the tag office at 11:30 AM today and a young lady was working immediate in front of the entrance. She asked me what I needed and I showed her the title of the bike and told her I needed a temp tag so I could take the bike to the dealer and that was all. She said that she could NOT give me a temporary tag for that purpose. I asked her to ask her boss and he said the same thing.

I went back to my office and did some research, and found Florida Statute saying “320.121 (K) states: In any case where a permanent license plate cannot legally be issued to an applicant and a temporary license plate is not specifically authorized under the provisions of this section, the department shall have the discretion to issue or authorize agents or Florida licensed dealers to issue temporary license plates to applicants demonstrating a need for such temporary use.”

The Florida DSHMV also wrote back saying that I should have no problem… “If you need to transport the vehicle to a location to sell it you should be able to obtain a demonstration temporary tag”.

Your staff took the easy way out, even after I insisted on getting a temporary tag and knew the law allowed me to do so. They did not bother doing any research to try and resolve the problem.

My wife contacted the Wakulla County tag office and they also said I would have no problem getting a temporary tag.

Since Wakulla’s office will close before I can get there, that does me no good. I need to have the bike at the shop tomorrow. Now I am stuck with having to rent a u-haul trailer for $25 plus tax because your staff was lazy and was of no help.

I pray that you educate your staff (and that includes supervisors) on when they can issue temporary tags, because I plan on letting our state lawmakers, the DHSMV, and the Department of Revenue know that my experience at your office was an unpleasant waste of time and money.

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If you work for the state — at the county level or otherwise, you are a public servant. Wouldn’t it be nice if you also provided good service to the public?

When state or other public workers gripe about low salaries and lay offs, stories such as the one related by my husband are the ones that are remembered. Every worker that draws a salary on the taxpayers’ dime and also has contact with the public needs to remember, you are the face of all state workers for that person when that individual interacts with you. When your legislator goes to bat for you, the tax payers in the rest of the state will not be sympathetic to your plight if you do not treat them well in the execution of your job.

Now, of course, like most wives, I did ask why he had not opted to drive the extra half mile to the main state of Florida office, that also issues local tags, on the Parkway. The husband’s response, “The line there is always long and I was trying to accomplish this task on my lunch break.” Then, he reiterated, “The law is the law and should be adhered to regardless of the office location.”

1 Comment to “Taxing Time at the Tax Collector’s Office”

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David

23 December 2009 at 13:38 | Permalink

Reply from Tax Collector’s Office:

First, let me apologize for any inconvenience you may have been caused on your last visit to our office.

I reviewed the statute you referenced in your e-mail which states “In any case where a permanent license plate cannot legally be issued …the department shall have the discretion … to issue temporary license plates …”

I talked to the supervisor who made the decision in this case and he explained to me that his decision was based on the fact that the statute states that a temporary tag can be issued “where a permanent license plate cannot legally be issued …” Because a permanent license could have been issued in this case, he believed that a temporary tag could not be issued.

While I agree with the supervisor that a permanent license plate could have legally been issued in this case, it would not have been practical to issue a permanent license plate. Since you had recently transferred the license plate from this motorcycle to your new motorcycle and you only wanted a temporary tag for the purpose of transporting the motorcycle to a dealer to be sold on consignment. In light of these facts, the supervisor could have used some discretion and issued you a temporary tag.

Mr. Pienta, I’m not making excuses for the supervisor in this case, but please understand that he is an acting supervisor and is still in training. I have since talked to him about the appropriate use of discretion when it does not violate the statute or DMV policies and procedures.

Again, I apologize for any inconvenience you may have been caused. Also, please know that your time is valuable to us. Finally, I hope that your next visit to our office will be a more pleasant experience.

Connie L. McCaskill
Chief Deputy of Operations and Customer Service