Our Fees v DPS budget

[txinvestigator]

I have done some research, and it appears that the CHL division is working on a budget way over the dollars that goes to the general fund from the fees we pay;

According to the State Budget, DPS' entire budget for CHL administration is $4,458,105 for FY 2008 (article V, section 42 E.1.1) and the revenue from ALL Licenses, Fees, Fines, and Penalties collected by the state is $2,473,000.00. (Governor's Budget, 2008-2009 Summary, Table 8) They don't list CHL application fees separately that I can find.


Does anyone have any contradictory data, or does this appear correct?

[ELB]

Four million?! Wowzer. Is that budget document online? Not that I doubt your ability to copy figures correctly, but would like to see if it is broken down to any detail. As of 12/31/07, there were 288,909 active CHL holders in Texas. $4M seems like a lot to monitor less than 300K people, given that they are not all getting initials or renewals in the same year. Is it possible that the CHL branch also does other things with that budget besides CHL? (I was amused to note that Florida's equivalent CHL licensing branch is in the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services -- I guess they have the licensing expertise from doing food handlers or something.)

elb

[txinvestigator]

That includes salaries and everything. It is online. Google up Texas Budget and see the sections I quoted.

[srothstein]

As a quick estimate, you could take the number of CHL's and divide it by 5. That would be the number renewed per year and is probably a decent estimate of the number of licenses for fees collected. I am guessing that the initials are just even with the expiring and not renewed for this.

That is 57781 license. Multiply it by 140 for the amount brought in and you get 8,089,340. Now, if you assume some discounted fees for age, veteran status, indigence, or police, then you would agree that this is an inflated figure. But since clearly, not everyone gets half price, then it has to be at least 4,000,000. I would say split the difference and I come up with a rough income of 6,000,000.

It seems to me that there might be more coming in from licenses than being spent on it. I thought it was supposed to be revenue neutral.

[txinvestigator]

As a quick estimate, you could take the number of CHL's and divide it by 5. That would be the number renewed per year and is probably a decent estimate of the number of licenses for fees collected. I am guessing that the initials are just even with the expiring and not renewed for this.

That is 57781 license. Multiply it by 140 for the amount brought in and you get 8,089,340. Now, if you assume some discounted fees for age, veteran status, indigence, or police, then you would agree that this is an inflated figure. But since clearly, not everyone gets half price, then it has to be at least 4,000,000. I would say split the difference and I come up with a rough income of 6,000,000.

It seems to me that there might be more coming in from licenses than being spent on it. I thought it was supposed to be revenue neutral.

Thats not what the budget shows.

[srothstein]

I think the governor's page you referenced is the increase in the budget, not the total. According to the Comptroller's office, we collect $6,914,295,978 in all licenses, fees, fines, permits and penalties.

http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/taxbud/revenue.html

I would still love to see a breakdown of how much does come in just from CHL licensing. I will dig a little more for it.

[txinvestigator]

I think the governor's page you referenced is the increase in the budget, not the total. According to the Comptroller's office, we collect $6,914,295,978 in all licenses, fees, fines, permits and penalties.

http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/taxbud/revenue.html

very good.

I would still love to see a breakdown of how much does come in just from CHL licensing. I will dig a little more for it.

As would I. All fees would include barbers, plumbers, attorneys, etc., and all of Private Security. Companies pay yearly, and fees are $300 an up. Individuals are yearly or bi-yearly, and range from $33 and up.

[RPBrown]

Ther are about 24,000 a/c licenses issued in Texas (yes, I'm one). Figure that times $130 per year as ours is a yearly renewal. Then appy that to electricians, barbers, auctioneers, plumbers, and all other license holders.

[cbr600]

A typical (Class C) driver license is $24 for six years, or $4 per year, multiplied by millions of licensed drivers in Texas...

[barres]

As a quick estimate, you could take the number of CHL's and divide it by 5. That would be the number renewed per year and is probably a decent estimate of the number of licenses for fees collected. I am guessing that the initials are just even with the expiring and not renewed for this.

That is 57781 license. Multiply it by 140 for the amount brought in and you get 8,089,340. Now, if you assume some discounted fees for age, veteran status, indigence, or police, then you would agree that this is an inflated figure. But since clearly, not everyone gets half price, then it has to be at least 4,000,000. I would say split the difference and I come up with a rough income of 6,000,000.

It seems to me that there might be more coming in from licenses than being spent on it. I thought it was supposed to be revenue neutral.

I thought renewals were half price. (I'm not due for my first renewal for almost another three years.)

[srothstein]

I thought renewals were half price. (I'm not due for my first renewal for almost another three years.)

Are they? I did not know that. I spent a good 15 minutes trying to find what the fees are on the DPS website and never did get an accurate answer. I remembered the $140 fee and wanted to verify it and finally found it elsewhere.

If the renewals are half price, I would say the expenses and the revenue are probably pretty close to balancing out so it is revenue neutral to the state, as it was intended to be.

[Keith B]

I thought renewals were half price. (I'm not due for my first renewal for almost another three years.)

What you may be thinking is some instructors only charge half the price for the renewal class over the full class because you only have to spend half of the day there. I believe the license fee to the state is still the same for renewal as for initial.

There are reduced fees for the license if you meet certain age, military or financial requirements, so look into those for savings if you possibly qualify in any of those areas.

[Crossfire]

The intial license fee is $140

The renewal license fee is $70

There are other discounts for senior citizens, military, etc.

[Keith B]

I stand corrrected. Thanks Linda!!

[barres]

The intial license fee is $140

The renewal license fee is $70

There are other discounts for senior citizens, military, etc.

I don't doubt the truthfulness of your statement, because (obviously) I heard it elsewhere before, but I cannot find anything in the CHL handbook (2007 - 2008 edition) that spells out the renewal fee. All I can find is GC §411.185.(3)(C) "payment of a nonrefundable renewal fee as set by the department;" Where is this renewal fee set?