Inspector General Tagliafierro Finds Gov’t Officials Across NYS Bypassed DMV’s Official License Plate Requirement for Taxpayer-Funded Vehicles

Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro today released the findings of her office’s review of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Political Subdivision Registration and License Plate program, which provides state- and local government entity-operated vehicles with specialized license plates. The Inspector General found that government officials at all levels across the state exploited DMV’s lack of programmatic oversight to bypass restrictions.

Vehicles assigned to a government entity are required to display license plates that include the name of the respective office, with exemptions for the heads of political subdivisions (i.e. mayors, supervisors, district attorneys, county executives, etc.) and law enforcement agencies needing unmarked plates. The program allows the public to readily identify official vehicles and ensure those vehicles are being used in an appropriate manner.

However, the Inspector General’s review found that through lax oversight and inconsistent and confusing instructions, some government officials to able wrongfully circumvent the plate requirement. This misuse made it more difficult for the public to verify that taxpayer-funded vehicles were used for government business only and not abused or misappropriated.

“Clearly identifying taxpayer-funded vehicles with the name of the office to which they belong is an important accountability measure,” said Inspector General Tagliafierro. “My office’s investigation found that local government officials across the state circumvented DMV’s restrictions to obtain unmarked plates, and DMV didn’t adequately ensure the integrity of the program. This potentially left publicly funded vehicles vulnerable to misuse.”

As part of the review, the Inspector General contacted 22 law enforcement agencies that had vehicles displaying unmarked political subdivision license plates and found:

· A county official’s vehicle received an unmarked license plate under the exemption for the political subdivision’s highest-level official, when, in fact, the official was not the county’s highest-level official and thus not eligible for the unmarked plate.

· The head of a county’s Department of Public Works was assigned an unmarked vehicle license plate under the law enforcement exemption when that official was not the highest-level official in the political subdivision.

· A county sheriff advised that multiple vehicles certified for use by the sheriff’s department for law enforcement purposes were being used for other purposes, including by civilians for maintenance and other non-law enforcement tasks.

· In 2019, DMV granted four exemptions under the highest-level elected official category to a single political subdivision. Based on the Inspector General’s review, DMV could not show proof that it confirmed the eligibility of the four vehicles.

The Inspector General’s review of 1,917 exemptions approved by DMV between January 4 and September 20, 2019, revealed that at least 972 were certified by individuals other than the highest-ranking publicly elected official/highest-level appointed officer.

The Inspector General reviewed DMV’s administration of the political subdivision program from 2014 to the present, including various policy and exemption changes implemented during the period. The review found that DMV:

· Approved unmarked license plates for political subdivisions that failed exemption criteria

· Applied inconsistent approvals for exemptions

· Failed to notify all stakeholders of procedural changes to the program

· Used exemption forms with overly broad language that failed to ensure the proper and more restrictive use of the program

· Began accepting signed exemption certifications from chiefs of police, sheriffs, and acting chiefs of police, contradicting the plain language of the certification after changes were made to the program in 2019

· Did not adequately track the assignment of all license plates under this program and the basis for exemptions from the marked plate requirement

· Did not require political subdivisions to surrender old/unused license plates or have vehicles display registration stickers on vehicle windshields

The Inspector General also reviewed the database DMV relies on to track its political subdivision program and identified numerous deficiencies, including:

· Due to inconsistent naming conventions applied by regional DMV offices, DMV was unable to compile reliable statistics regarding the number of license plates registered through the program. According to DMV’s database, there were approximately 198,000 license plates registered through the program, yet nearly 30,000 lacked information needed to readily identify to which political subdivision the plates were assigned.

· DMV failed to record the specific user of the license plates and the basis for exemption. Namely, numerous license plates were shown to be registered to generic counties, towns, and cities as opposed to identifying specific agencies within subdivisions, making it impossible to capture essential data for analysis.

· DMV has not reconciled its database in more than a decade to ensure it is accurate and includes a record of all registered license plates. The Inspector General discovered numerous unmarked license plates that were not accounted for in DMV’s database.

· DMV also has not updated its policies and procedures and forms for the political subdivision program to reflect current practice.

To strengthen the political subdivision program and prevent abuse of public assets, the Inspector General recommends that DMV:

· Require that all entities seeking exemptions from the marked plate requirement provide to DMV detailed written justification of the need for unmarked plates and ensure that the justification is certified by the head of the political subdivision.

· Require political subdivisions to surrender old/unused license plates and renew registrations as control measures

· Consider requiring political subdivisions to display registration stickers on vehicle windshields to assist law enforcement in detecting improperly plated vehicles where a political subdivision plate may have been stolen or improperly transferred for use on a different vehicle.

· Enhance its recordkeeping of the program for audit and oversight purposes.

Inspector General Tagliafierro recommends that DMV consider transferring the responsibility for the issuance of unmarked license plates for use by police and peace officers from the political subdivision program to the Division of Field Investigation, which has stricter controls in place to ensure a more rigorous review of applicants, curtail abuse, and reduce confusion.

The Inspector General also recommends that DMV consider establishing a hotline, email and/or website to report suspected misuse of a government vehicle operated by a New York State or municipal employee.

During the Inspector General’s review, DMV experienced a change in leadership. In June 2019, Mark J. F. Schroeder was confirmed as the new commissioner of DMV, and in October 2020,

Leslie F. Brennan was appointed as DMV’s executive deputy commissioner. DMV, which fully cooperated with the Inspector General’s review and has examined its findings, has agreed to evaluate the oversight of the political subdivision program based on the Inspector General’s recommendations.

The report “Investigation of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Political Subdivision Program” is online.

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