New Carlisle BMV transactions
2007 37,337
2008 34,646
2009 36,053
2010 37,726
June 2010 through May 2011 37,114
By Tiffany Y. Latta
Staff Writer
NEW CARLISLE — The state is reconsidering plans to close the New Carlisle Bureau of Motor Vehicles in 2012, but the office must increase business to remain open.
The city’s BMV must increase its number of transactions to 40,000 or more and comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act and regulations to get a contract extension and remain open after its interim deputy registrar contract expires June 30, 2012, according to a letter recently sent to the local office from BMV Registrar Mike Rankin.
“That’s certainly good news,” New Carlisle Councilman Barry D. Kilburn said. “We don’t want to close the license bureau because it will have a negative affect on New Carlisle and the surrounding communities.”
The local BMV has completed construction to meet ADA requirement, but had only 37,726 transactions last year — just 2,274 shy of the volume needed to be considered a viable license agency, officials said.
In 2009, the agency had 36,053 transactions and has not had more than 40,000 transactions in the last five years, according to Lindsey Bohrer, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
Kilburn said officials are doing everything they can to keep the agency open, including urging more residents to visit the BMV instead of mailing in registration requests.
“If it closed it would not only impact New Carlisle, but all of western Clark County. Miami County residents use it, Pike Twp., German Twp. People come to New Carlisle to avoid the crowds,” Kilburn said.
The letter from Rankin comes as a relief to local officials, who began a fight to keep the agency open after they were notified in April that the BMV at 430 N. Main St. — which authorities say serves residents from at least four counties — would close July 2012.
New Carlisle, Bethel Twp. trustees, county leaders and Rep. Ross McGregor met with Ohio Department of Public Safety officials in May and urged them to keep the agency open.
Rankin responded with a letter to New Carlisle Deputy Registrar Craig Engle saying officials would reconsider. But he noted that the state considered not offering the office a new three-year contract starting July 1, 2012, due to low transactions volumes and the viability of the agency.
Bohrer said agencies that generate less than 40,000 transactions per year are “problematic for the BMV to manage and for independent contractor deputy registrars to stay financially solvent.”
Kilburn and Commissioner Rick Lohnes said they hope the agency is able to increase the number of its annual transactions and remain open.
“It’s more assessable and keeps people from going outside the county to Huber Heights and traveling to Springfield for service,” Lohnes said.