Eugene T. Paslov: Consequences of budget cuts

I recently bought a used car and took the paperwork to the Carson City DMV to get the car registered. Like most citizens of driving age, I've had a lot of experience with DMV offices around the country - Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Lansing, Mich.

I've experienced the frustration and even found some humor in the antics of clerks behind plexiglass cubicles oblivious to the world around them. I recall 15 years ago in Washington, D.C., two clerks in their "bullet proof cubicles," drinking sodas and carrying on an animated conversation, while long lines stretched outside the building. The two women were oblivious to the chaos they were creating.

In the recent past, in an effort to provide better service, state government worked hard to improve DMV operations - waits got shorter, clerks became more polite and problems got solved more quickly.

However, we've just experienced cuts in government services. To put this in perspective, I went to the Carson City DMV office on a Monday mid-morning to avoid the crowds, but the entire waiting room was filled. I sat down next to a woman who told me she had been waiting for two hours and 18 minutes and she was still 30 numbers away from getting help. (The DMV has a very efficient numbering system.) She figured she had at least two more hours to wait.

I counted places for 18 clerks but only three, sometimes four, were available to help clients. The fellow sitting across from us complained it was all an operational problem. The clerks weren't working hard enough; they were wasting time. Inefficient big government, he claimed. I knew that wasn't true and said so.

After a couple of hours I turned in my number and left. I went back the next day and finally got to talk with an employee. She got my car registered in short order and was pleasant and informative in the process. Still, fewer than nine of the 18 work stations were open, and I did wait more than two hours before I got helped. I asked about the long lines and lengthy waiting periods.

I was told that the DMV had closed local offices and staff had been let go. They simply did not have enough people to provide required services. State employees also had to take furlough days, which exacerbated the problem.

When the anti-government wag talks about the evils of big government and forces reductions, we should expect negative outcomes. We have to be willing to pay for the services we need. It's simply common sense to support government employees who work so hard to help us.

• Eugene Paslov is a board member of the Davidson Academy at the University of Nevada, Reno and the former Nevada state superintendent of schools.