House and Senate disagree about how much it will cost to move DMV to Rocky Mount
Before the state Division of Motor Vehicles can move its headquarters from Raleigh to Rocky Mount, the agency needs the General Assembly to come up with millions of dollars for rent and moving expenses.
The House and Senate versions of the budget agree on the amount of rent: $1.2 million to lease the former headquarters of the Hardee’s restaurant chain for about half a year. The lease rate will average a little more than $2 million per year over 15 years.
As for the moving expenses, DMV requested more than $5.6 million, and House budget writers obliged in their version approved earlier this month.
But the Senate version introduced Tuesday calls for only $4 million for moving expenses. Sen. Tom McInnis, co-chair of the appropriations committee for transportation, said the committee decided $4 million “was more in line with reality” than the $5.6 million requested by DMV.
“We just felt that was an excessive number after looking at the individual line items,” McInnis said Tuesday, after the committee introduced its part of the budget.
Despite the earlier request, DMV spokesman Jamie Kritzer said late Tuesday that the agency is “continuing to revise and update the cost estimates” and doesn’t have a final figure yet. Bobby Lewis, the chief operating officer for the N.C. Department of Transportation, said the same thing after attending McInnis’ committee meeting Tuesday.
“We’re still kind of looking at everything we need to do in Rocky Mount,” Lewis said. “We’re going to be as efficient as we can.”
Preparing to move
It was through last year’s state budget that the General Assembly directed the DMV to move to leased office space by Oct. 1, 2020. The agency’s buildings on New Bern Avenue have asbestos and safety problems that the state deemed too expensive to fix, and the budget specified that DMV seek lease proposals from developers and landlords in Wake and surrounding counties.
Of the dozen offers it received, the cheapest came from the owners of the old Hardee’s campus, which was later used by Centura Bank, about an hour east of Raleigh. Nash County qualifies as a “surrounding” county to Wake because they touch near Zebulon.
The Council of State approved the move in March, but the legislature must approve the rent money before the state can sign a lease with Prime Properties RMT, the owner of the complex. With a signed lease, Prime Properties will begin interior renovations to get the offices ready for DMV.
In the meantime, DMV has begun preparing for the move, said commissioner Torre Jessup.
“We’re behind the scenes planning,” Jessup said in an interview. “We can’t wait for the final funding to start the planning, because we’ve got a big operation to move.”
The bulk of the moving costs DMV said it needed from the legislature — $3.7 million — would pay for furniture, finishes and equipment for offices, including cubicle workstations, according to figures provided by NCDOT last month. Another $2 million would pay for IT and phone equipment and setup.
More than 400 jobs now done on New Bern Avenue are expected to move to Rocky Mount. It’s not clear yet how many employees will move with DMV; an internal poll this year suggested that dozens of workers will quit rather than make the longer commute or move closer to Rocky Mount.
Jessup says he knows DMV will have to fill jobs left vacant by people who don’t want to move. He’s hoping to minimize that number.
“I’m trying to figure out how we can convince those employees, that hey, DMV is a good place to work right now, but it’s going to be a great place to work. And I want them to be a part of it,” he said. “We have a lot of employees that have a lot of knowledge and a lot of skills that they’ve acquired over the years, and we value those employees.”
Jessup says DMV expects to move in phases starting next summer to meet the Oct. 1 deadline set by the General Assembly.
This story was originally published May 28, 2019 at 7:12 PM with the headline "House and Senate disagree about how much it will cost to move DMV to Rocky Mount."
