Hundreds of layoffs are planned for the DMV and five branches will be closed.
The branches in Danbury, New Britain, Enfield, Old Saybrook and Putnam will be closed by Aug. 11.
Officials from the state Department of Motor Vehicles said they are hoping for voluntary retirements.
Photo license centers in Derby, Middletown and Milford will also be closed by Aug. 11 and part-time branches in Winsted and Willimantic will become full-time branches.
The wait is expected to grow by about 30 minutes.
“All the agencies that are involved are going to be hard-pressed to provide the same level of service after these layoffs have been implemented as they have before,” Ben Barnes, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, said.
DMV officials visited offices on Wednesday to tell employees to expect layoff notices soon. Some DMV employees will continue to perform their jobs for a few months and others will work well into the winter.
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The agency will broaden services provided at the 15 AAA locations around the state.
AAA does photo license renewals and, under the reorganization plan, they will provide other license services.
The DMV is planning to regionalize driver license testing that will require people statewide to go to offices and have a license-permit testing process where 30 or more people would be tested at once and overseen by agency officials.
DMV is also consolidating services to provide access to online registration services to automobile dealers without it.
As of July all late and current renewals must be mailed. Customers bringing a registration renewal to an office will be given a pre-addressed envelope to mail the registration to DMV’s processing unit.
The DMV is also eliminating its mediation services for customers who file a dealer or repairer complaint that does not allege a specific violation of state law or regulations. Customers will be advised to file their complaint in small-claims court.
DMV is also working on a two-year plan to make it easier for customers to do a number of online services, including an online service for customers to cancel a marker plate when theirs is lost or stolen, a registration verification system to check on whether a vehicle is properly registered in the state and to order vanity plates online.
Union negotiators said they are working on a solution after the rank and file voted down a $1.6 billion concession package.
Almost 400 state employees have received layoff notices and more are expected on Thursday.
“Economists who have been watching these trends for a lot longer than I have, have said the last thing that you do in order to get economy going, to get recovery moving, is to put more workers on the unemployment line,” Matt O'Connor, spokesman for the unions representing state employees, said.
Barring some new agreement from the unions, Gov. Dannel Malloy said layoffs would continue.
“Short-term, it's very painful. But a lot of states experienced that pain already. We've put it off in Connecticut,” he said.
