Random anecdote: I moved to VA back in the 99-00 period. The then-new governor had made improving DMV part of his resume projects, and spent a boatload of mone

Random anecdote: I moved to VA back in the 99-00 period. The then-new governor had made improving DMV part of his resume projects, and spent a boatload of money on improving several aspects - more hiring, tech upgrades, and some process upgrades like creating different lines for different kinds of business and a ticketing system so you could sit until called. It was a great experience. show up, someone ( no waiting!) asks me what I'm there for and hands me the appropriate form (circling the actual areas I needed to answer) and gives me a ticket. in 5ish mins I was called up, handed in my form and papers, and they processed my new ID, sending me to a second area for a pic and to get my ID. Total visit time: less than 15 mins. Several years later, after a new governor and the inevitable budget cuts, most of this was gone. Still had the intake, but no one helped me decipher the form, and the wait was much longer. The atmosphere was similarly dour, with a big crowd of people that just wanted to get this errand done but had to wait. Total visit time: over 1 hour. But the basic contrast showed me how much of complaints about govt slowness is just a matter of funding/staffing.