The customer window in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County usually doesn’t have a line, but roughly 10 people were waiting there Friday, and some were worried, according to the county treasurer.
“I don’t have a dozen people waiting in front of the window on a normal day at all other than tax time,” said County Treasurer Eric Hoiland on Tuesday.
In Missoula County, 200 people typically come into the office to do title and registration transactions on a busy day, but on Monday, 213 had come in by 1 p.m., according to the county treasurer.
“We’ve gotten flooded. I’ve seen a bunch of treasurer emails from people who are frustrated,” said County Treasurer Tyler Gernant on Tuesday.
The people were frustrated because they received vehicle registration postcards from the Montana Department of Justice that made them believe they were delinquent, according to three county treasurers.
The DOJ sends reminder postcards at the beginning of the month, and people have until the end of the month to renew, Gernant said.
Previous mailings said registration was due at the end of a one-month grace period, Gernant said. But the most recent mailing said registration and payment were due by April 30.
“They, for whatever reason, changed it,” Gernant said. “So now it shows that your registration has already expired.”
The Department of Justice did not answer questions Tuesday about the postcards from its Motor Vehicle Division and its plan for future mailings.
Stillwater County Treasurer Jerry Friend said the expiration date on the postcards is correct, but it’s not complete information because it excludes the grace period for reregistration.
And he said people are worried they’ll get a ticket.
“They’re in a panic about it, but we just tell them, ‘Nah, it’s just a misprint,’” Friend said.
Gernant said the DOJ sent out thousands of postcards across the state, “but the frustrating thing is it directs everybody to contact our office.”
He said many of those people are “panic-stricken” when they walk in the door, and they are relieved to learn they are still legal to drive.
County employees ask people if they want to renew anyway since they’re already there, and many have been doing so.
“Most people are sufficiently freaked out, they’re just renewing when they get here,” Gernant said.
Friend, who is also past president of the Montana County Treasurers Association, said the association has communicated with the DOJ about the errors, and he said the postcard has other problems, too.
“It’s a little bit of an embarrassment, I would think,” he said.
For example, he said the font is so small, he can hardly read it — “I about need a magnifying glass to read them” — and it refers to an incorrect statute, although “nobody looks at that anyway.”
“My question is, ‘Who did the proofreading?’” Friend said.
However, he said he doesn’t think the postcards will be a problem again. Gernant also said he believes a change is in the works at the DOJ for the next round of mailers later this month.
“They are very well aware of it and are supposedly working on a fix to it,” Gernant said.
Friend also said the mixup is part of a brand new motor vehicle system that everyone is still trying to figure out.
In Stillwater County, he said, some people don’t want to pay up right away since they have until the end of the month.
“Some people’s budgets are pretty tight,” Friend said.
Hoiland said it’s important to improve communication with the public. He said people do their best, but sometimes it still falls short.
“We’ve got to do a better job for the taxpayers,” Hoiland said.
In Anaconda-Deer Lodge, one elderly woman walked to the office instead of driving because she was worried about her expired registration.
“It was the farthest she walked in a long time,” Hoiland said.
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