News and Music Discovery
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

TN Safety Department fees fell short, seeks $7.6M

wikipedia.org

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security is requesting over 7 and a half million dollars to supplement its budget after a planned windfall from driver's license fees failed to materialize.  A 2011 bill allowed the state to revoke the licenses of people who don’t pay criminal fines and court costs. Lawmakers expected the change to bring in millions of dollars in reinstatement fees.  But the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports so far only nine counties are complying. The state has collected just a little over 22 thousand dollars.  Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons sent a letter earlier this month to clerks in all 95 counties reminding them of the law. He says a number of counties are working on methods to provide notices electronically to the state.

Todd Hatton hails from Paducah, Kentucky, where he got into radio under the auspices of the late, great John Stewart of WKYX while a student at Paducah Community College. He also worked at WKMS in the reel-to-reel tape days of the early 1990s before running off first to San Francisco, then Orlando in search of something to do when he grew up. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Murray State University. He vigorously resists adulthood and watches his wife, Angela Hatton, save the world one plastic bottle at a time.
Related Content