State offices to close Fridays until Jan. 29

Need to visit the DMV or another state agency anytime soon?

Don't make it a Friday, because for the next three months, state offices will be closed on that day.

Most state workers are taking unpaid furlough days the first three Fridays of every month as a result of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's executive order tied to the state's massive budget problem.

Add to that paid holidays on the Friday after Thanksgiving and on Christmas and New Year’s days, which this year both fall on a Friday, and that means the closed sign will be out at most state agencies every Friday until Jan. 29.

That could mean even longer delays getting service at the DMV, where the average walk-in wait time in the last year has gone from 27 minutes to 45 minutes, according to a new report by the Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes.

At the Santa Rosa DMV office, far more people were waiting longer for service in September than in the same period a year ago.

In September 2008, 38 percent of customers waited more than 30 minutes. In 2009, that number climbed to 58 percent.

Jan Mendoza, a DMV spokeswoman, encouraged people to do as much of their business via the agency's Web site or to book advance appointments to get around the long lines.

“I implore people to check that (the Web site) first before they make that trek,” she said.

She noted several other upcoming holidays will mean even more closures, including Veterans' Day next Wednesday and Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 18. The latter is a Monday, which means a four-day weekend for state workers and two less days for the public to conduct business.

Mendoza said Mondays after furlough days in general are the busiest for the DMV. That's also likely true for other state agencies.

Furlough Fridays are scheduled to run through June 2010, although Schwarzenegger could shorten or lengthen that amount of time.