New DMV director cites experience in handling large budgets

By Cy Ryan

Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010 | 4:17 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Bruce Breslow, the incoming director of the state Department of Motor Vehicles, says he has experience in handling big budgets.

Breslow, the head of the Nuclear Projects Agency, was picked by Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval to replace Edgar Roberts, who held the DMV top job for about two years.

Breslow is a former mayor of Sparks and was an administrative law judge for the Transportation Services Agency under former Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Compared to the $4.6 million nuclear projects budget approved by the 2009 Legislature, Breslow will be taking over an agency with a biennial budget of $254.4 million and a multitude of programs.

As mayor of Sparks, Breslow said he was involved in every department ranging from public works to police to sewer projects, so he believes he has the seasoning to handle the new job.

He said he was told by Sandoval that people moving to Nevada have their first contact with the DMV. The governor wants improved customer relations, he said.

The duties of the DMV include collection and distribution of the highway tax, licensing of drivers, registration of motor vehicles and making sure the state complies with federal air management standards.

This is an agency that generates some of the most public complaints – mostly about long waits in offices to get service. The average wait time in the last biennium was more than 40 minutes in most of the offices in Clark County.

Breslow said he intends to visit every DMV office in the state after the Legislature. His goal is to make all the employees welcome and to listen to their suggestions, he said.

But right now he is learning as much as he can and as fast as he can about the budget. The Legislature opens in February.

Sandoval said he told Breslow “to focus on customer service and improved processes that make doing business with the DMV a more efficient and pleasant experience.”