{"id":67666,"date":"2026-05-29T15:17:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=67666"},"modified":"2026-05-29T15:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:17:13","slug":"polk-tax-collector-slams-states-unreliable-motor-vehicle-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/05\/29\/polk-tax-collector-slams-states-unreliable-motor-vehicle-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk tax collector slams state&#8217;s unreliable motor vehicle system"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-dominant-color=\"483a46\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #483a46;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"190\" height=\"266\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 190px) 100vw, 190px\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/download-2-12.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-67668 not-transparent\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Polk County Tax Collector Joe G. Tedder<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Polk County Tax Collector Joe G. Tedder has publicly called out the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) over its new statewide DMV computer system, calling it &#8220;unacceptable&#8221; and &#8220;crippling&#8221; to local operations.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The issue stems from a new system called <strong>Orion<\/strong>, which the state rolled out in January to handle driver&#8217;s licenses and other DMV transactions.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is a breakdown of what is happening:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Massive Delays:<\/strong> Transactions that typically take 20 minutes or less are dragging out to <strong>over three hours<\/strong> because of system freezes and errors, forcing local staff to occasionally turn citizens away.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Frequent Crashes:<\/strong> The system&#8217;s unreliability has spiked recently. Out of the first 18 business days in May 2026, the Orion system experienced software crashes or major delays on <strong>12 of those days<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Local Control Limits:<\/strong> Because the software is entirely managed and mandated by the state, local tax collector offices have no ability to fix the backend technical glitches themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tedder took a sharp tone in his statement, questioning the state\u2019s management of the rollout:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;My Office is required to use this State computer system to do the basics like, you know, work&#8230; As a Conservative, I join others in the call for less government. But, shouldn&#8217;t the State focus on government that works?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Residents Can Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Tax Collector\u2019s Office is asking residents to remain patient with local staff, who are stuck troubleshooting the crashes in real time.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are facing extreme delays or want to voice complaints, Tedder is urging citizens to contact the state directly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>By Phone:<\/strong> FLHSMV Customer Service at <strong>(850) 617-2000<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Online:<\/strong> Submit an email form through the state&#8217;s portal at <a href=\"https:\/\/flhsmv.service-now.com\/csp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">flhsmv.service-now.com\/csp<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Polk County Tax Collector Joe G. Tedder has publicly called out the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) over its new statewide DMV computer system, calling it&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDVcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTItMTIud2VicD9maXQ9MTkwJTJDMjY2JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiUG9sayB0YXggY29sbGVjdG9yIHNsYW1zIHN0YXRlJiM4MjE3O3MgdW5yZWxpYWJsZSBtb3RvciB2ZWhpY2xlIHN5c3RlbSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.dzPGGERqf5L79bIRlybOYjef_Go2HpK3hBor0RfFpe8MQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA1XC9kb3dubG9hZC0yLTEyLndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJQb2xrIHRheCBjb2xsZWN0b3Igc2xhbXMgc3RhdGUncyB1bnJlbGlhYmxlIG1vdG9yIHZlaGljbGUgc3lzdGVtIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.FUqgt-t5GR6ZQ021RdqEr0d6R9jkcMhxUtav-gBIK1UMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14725],"class_list":["post-67666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-polk-tax-collector-slams-states-unreliable-motor-vehicle-system"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67666"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67669,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67666\/revisions\/67669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}