MONTICELLO – A state mandated upgrade to county Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) operations is causing time delays and errors resulting in overcharged credit card transactions, according to Sullivan County Clerk Russell Reeves, who spoke before the Legislature’s Government Services Committee Meeting on Thursday, April 9.

“DMV has a new system which was supposed to be faster, smoother, better—and it doesn’t seem to be turning out that way,” Reeves told the legislators.

Reeves said his team at the DMV, which handled 69,000 transactions in 2025, has been struggling with the upgraded New York State computer system installed two months ago.

“They keep changing the software template, so just when my staff gets [things in order], they say ‘you have the wrong numbers: here’s another template, do over’. Then we’ll work on that for five days trying to get it to work, and then they’ll say ‘Wait, that template’s not good, here’s the right template’,” said Reeves.

Reeves explained that it’s been difficult getting the upgraded system to work with the existing system, citing an example: “With motorcycle test results, the old way took us five minutes and two windows [on the screen]; the new system now is 20 minutes plus it’s 15 windows.”

Credit card transactions have also been a problem. “The credit card terminals are slower,” said Reeves, who reported that some credit cards are being charged twice. “I cannot refund the charge at my office level, so it has to be done through Albany.”

Reeves said that duplicate licenses are also taking double the amount of time they used to, and clients trying to get a driver’s permit have to have their information entered into the computer system twice instead of once.

“The system has really been a bear,” Reeves concluded. He praised his staff for their resilience and said the public, for the most part, has been patient as the DMV employees wade through the murky transition.

District 9 Legislator Terry Bernardo asked Reeves, “What can we do to help?”

“I don’t think you can really help us at this point,” answered Reeves, “because the state system is not working the way it’s supposed to work… It’s more time-consuming, the transactions are longer, and we’re just getting through it.” 

Reeves added that the upgraded software system was launched statewide instead of a trial period in one or two counties, which could have made the transition smoother.

If you have an upcoming appointment scheduled at the Sullivan County DMV, allow extra time for your visit.