Friday, June 10, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Wait 'til fall for DMV rebate

Agency points to September, but Guinn hopes for faster time

Click image for enlargement. Graphic by Mike Johnson. Click image for enlargement.

CARSON CITY -- Those rebate checks Nevadans counted on spending in July will not be mailed out until the end of September or early October, the Department of Motor Vehicles said Thursday.

Tom Jacobs, a DMV spokesman, said officials have made no decision on whether the controller's office or a private company will be given the task of printing and mailing 2 million rebate checks.

Costs of printing and mailing the checks have been estimated at $2.5 million.

At hearings in the Legislature, representatives of the governor's staff were saying checks would be mailed in July.

Jacobs said DMV offices began receiving inquiries from customers Tuesday, hours after the $300 million rebate bill was passed, about dropping by and picking up their checks.

"We aren't writing any checks, and we aren't sending them out," Jacobs said. "They are using our database because we have virtually every adult in Nevada in it. But don't ask the DMV for your check."

He said two people in October walked into DMV offices in Las Vegas to demand their checks on the day when Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, became the first person to suggest giving Nevadans rebates on their car registration fees.

Gov. Kenny Guinn will have the final say over how money will be distributed. He will meet with the DMV, the controller's office and others next week. Guinn wants checks in the hands of residents long before September, said one of his spokesmen, John Trent.

In one of the final acts of the regular 2005 session, at 12:07 a.m. Tuesday, legislators voted to rebate $300 million of the state's tax surplus to residents and set up a $5 million fund to give money to residents whose homes suffer damage in disasters.

Money for the disaster fund comes from the thousands of checks state officials expect will be returned from people who moved without changing the address on their driver's license. Some might no longer be Nevada residents.

Under the plan in Assembly Bill 572, Nevadans will receive minimum rebate checks of $75 and maximum checks of $275, with the amounts reflecting what they paid last year to register their motor vehicles.

Rebates will be given not only on car and truck registrations but on motorcycles, RVs and fleets of vehicles owned by businesses. The rebates will be paid on each vehicle on which its owner paid registration fees.

And 65,777 people age 65 or older who did not register any motor vehicles in 2004 but who had a state ID card will be sent a $75 check.

Rebates will not be made on utility trailers, rental cars or carriers weighing 26,000 pounds or more.

Most people who paid less than $275 to register their vehicles in 2004 can expect a rebate back for almost that amount of money, Jacobs said.

Those who paid more than $275, including 7,000 people who paid more than $1,000 to register luxury cars, will receive the maximum rebate of $275.

Jacobs said one-third of the 2 million vehicles in Nevada are 10 years old or older and have total registration fees of about $40. Their owners will receive the $75 minimum.

The deal to give minimum rebates and rebates to nondriving senior citizens was struck late Monday by Guinn and Democrats.

Democrats wanted all Nevadans to receive rebate checks of $150 to $175. Owners of businesses would have received one rebate check like everyone else.

Guinn wanted $300 maximum checks and wanted businesses and people who own multiple vehicles to receive the rebate on every vehicle they registered. He did not propose rebates for people who did not register vehicles.

He said the Democratic plan was taking money from people who pay for services and giving it to those who do not pay.

"I said if you have a better plan, then show it to me," Guinn said. "It is a compromise. This still will help small businesses and the people. Most people will get back what they paid in, and everybody gets $75."

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said, "I wish it could have been $150, instead of a $75 minimum check. He wasn't willing to do that."

She said her plan for a disaster relief fund, if it had been in place last year, could have helped people who suffered property damage when flooding occurred near Mesquite or when a fire occurred in Carson City.

Titus said federal disaster relief money is not given to private property owners. The state will grant money, without the obligation to pay it back, to such owners.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said the Democrats' goal was to get more money into the hands of more people.

"Business said they don't pay taxes, they pass them on," Perkins said. "People pay taxes. So we wanted to give the rebates to people. But business owners are people, too. It was a good compromise."