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By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal
An $11 million cut in the new general fund appropriation to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) will force the elimination of travel to 31 part-time, non-state owned, satellite locations including those in Butler, Crenshaw and Lowndes County.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) announced effective Wednesday, Sept. 30 that traveling driver license examiners will be reallocated to staff district driver license offices full-time.
Among satellite locations listed as no longer in service are Butler County (Greenville), Crenshaw County (Luverne) and Lowndes County ( Hayneville).
According to Sergeant Steve Jarrett of ALEA, 662 transactions were conducted in the Hayneville office during the 2014 calendar year
According to the ALEA , the reallocation of the driver license examiners comes one day before the effective date of the general fund budget passed during a special legislative session. The appropriation to ALEA was reduced in the new budget from $55,758,744 to $44,640,937.
The ALEA reports Alabama issues an average of 1.2 million driver licenses each year. The Driver License Division is severely understaffed and has 103 vacant positions as a result of past budget cuts and attrition. Analyzing transactions performed in each location throughout the state revealed the combined efforts of the 31 part-time satellite locations accounted for less than five percent of all Alabama Driver License transactions performed by ALEA. The busiest of these 31 satellite locations performed less than 2,000 transactions during 2014.
“Since the Jan. 1, 2015 implementation date of ALEA, my staff and I have worked hard to make improvements and optimize customer convenience to the citizens of Alabama. In July, I announced several advancements that will help the driver license issuance process including online scheduling, online driver license renewals and duplicates, self-serve kiosks, digital licensing for smart phones, and statewide equipment upgrades. Since making that announcement, we have had over 40,000 transactions online,” said Secretary of Law Enforcement Spencer Collier. “The impact of the changes due to the budget cuts will be lessened because of the implementation of these technology-based services, including online renewals.”
“We will continue to work on ways to optimize customer convenience with our services,” said Secretary Collier. “Probate judges and license or revenue commissioners will continue to provide the same renewal services they have traditionally handled in their facilities. Additionally, statewide equipment upgrades announced in July, will allow probate Judges and license or revenue commissioners to renew STAR IDs and conduct other services that were previously only performed at driver license offices.”
The schedules for ALEA district driver license offices are available online at www.alrenewal.com. Additionally, to help citizens who currently utilize these part-time, satellite locations, ALEA has developed an interactive Citizen Services Locator Map that will identify and locate the closest office and the services it provides. Citizens can access the Citizens Services Locator Map by visiting www.alrenewal.com.