Urbanna DMV Select builds for the future; is losing money now

by Tom Chillemi –

Urbanna’s DMV Select, which opened in February, lost $28,000 in the fiscal year that ended June 30, Urbanna Town Councilor Bill Goldsmith reported at a recent council meeting. “We anticipate that it will be a net loss for the coming year,” Goldsmith said. “Right now it is not making money; it’s just a service that draws people into town. But over time the other places where this (DMV Select) has been done it was at least able to pay for itself.”

Council decided that DMV Select makes Urbanna a destination, said Goldsmith, and council knew there would be “some start up time.”

Urbanna Mayor Barbara Hartley commented the town went into it with the expectation that it would take two years to show a profit. “It’s performing as we expected it to,” she said at the meeting.

Urbanna’s 2022-2023 budget that began July 1, has a DMV Select expense of $46,400. It is anticipated that DMV Select will generate $10,000 in revenue so there is an estimated loss of about $35,000, said Zoning Administrator Roy Kime. “We don’t want to be doing this forever at a substantial cost.”

Town Councilor Marjorie Austin pointed out that the health insurance accounts for $8,800…