Sedgwick County is reducing its tag office hours. Here’s why

Sedgwick County is changing its tag office hours again, this time reducing it by an hour in the morning.

The new hours, starting Wednesday, will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Earlier this year, the county changed its hours to 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., which it said would allow residents more time to get work done at the tag office.

Reducing hours could decrease wait times for people utilizing the tag office, county Treasurer Brandi Baily explained.

Baily said the tag office is not fully staffed between 7 and 8 a.m., especially with having the office open until 5 p.m. each day.

“When we open the doors and there are 150-200 people lined up, of course the wait time is increased, because you have the extra hour to wait for full staff,” she said in an email to the Eagle.

The county’s tag offices, which are state-mandated, allow residents to renew their vehicle license plates and do title work in person.

In May, residents complained of longer-than-normal wait times. Some residents were even being turned away an hour after the office opened because the office had already met its 200-person cap for the day.

That’s despite several changes being made to tag office operations earlier in the year, including the hours change and tag office consolidation.

The county has also added several satellite tag offices that are available by appointment only.

“This is not a temporary surge,” Baily said at the time. “This is becoming our new operating normal.”

The tag office will be closed July 3 for Independence Day weekend.

To avoid long wait times at the tag office, the county is encouraging residents to use its drop-off title service, renew tags online, or set up an appointment at a satellite office. It also says paperwork can be mailed in or use the county’s dropbox.