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More Driver’s License Services Move Online in Alabama

New options like online scheduling, renewals, and digital licenses will bring closure of some rural field offices.

(TNS) -- The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency has moved more driver’s license services online in an effort to reduce wait times at offices around the state. Spencer Collier, ALEA secretary, said Thursday the changes will result in the closure of some field offices in rural areas where a license examiner may now be available only once a week.

“We are examining some field offices generally provided by counties,” Collier said. He said it would be a few weeks before closures were announced.

One thing that will be considered is the number of people served. Distance also is a factor.

“This year alone, we’ve already spent $60,000 on examiner travel, to go from here to an outlying office,” Collier said. “For that $60,000, we could have paid for another examiner.”

He called the old driver’s license bureaus and offices “inefficient and archaic.”

Many of the changes discussed Thursday already are in effect. They include: online scheduling for appointments; online driver’s license renewals, which 10,000 people already have used; 10 self-serve kiosks around the state, including one already in Decatur; equipment upgrades statewide; and digital licenses available for smartphones.

“You’ll be able to have your license on your iPhone and Androids,” Collier said.

The license examiner’s office in the Morgan County Courthouse was closed July 17 to install new equipment, which includes new testing stations and an electronic monitor to sign up for an exam.

The Morgan County License Commissioner’s office suspended the renewal of driver’s licenses for part of July 17 to install new equipment that allows the office to renew a STAR (Secure, Trusted and Reliable) ID license.

Collier said the technology changes would be a cost savings, but he didn’t have an exact figure.

Earlier this year, ALEA increased the fee on driver’s licenses by 54 percent. A north Alabama senator tried to undo the increase during the legislative session, but was unsuccessful. The new fee is expected to generate about $12 million a year.

Collier on Wednesday also answered questions about ongoing General Fund budget discussions and the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

In the 2016 budget approved by lawmakers and vetoed by the governor, ALEA would have received $38.4 million.

“We cannot run this agency on $38 million. It’s not possible,” Collier said.

ALEA is new this year, the result of a cost-savings measure to put all state law enforcement agencies under one umbrella group.

Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said lawmakers have told Collier they expect consolidation and savings as a result of the creation of ALEA.

“Hopefully he is listening to that and is streamlining some of these departments, especially if there are things that can be done online, which is more accessible and easier for the customer,” Marsh said. “If that means reducing the size of the facilities or eliminating some of them, especially as people retire, don’t replace them, that’s what we want to see.”

Another lawmaker expressed concern about what closures might mean for his area.

“As a senator who represents a number of rural communities, I would be very concerned to find out that my constituents could be negatively impacted by this plan,” said Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City. “I have not had an opportunity to review the plan in detail, but I hope ALEA will reach out to legislative members to give us more details before they implement it.”

©2015 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.