Kauai County DMV, property-tax offices close Wednesday for staff training

Drivers who need a license renewal, a road test appointment or a property-tax transaction will hit a hard stop at County of Kauai counters on Wednesday, May 13, when the Division of Motor Vehicles and the Real Property Assessment & Collections Section close for staff training.

The county said regular hours will resume Thursday, May 14, but the one-day shutdown could still affect residents with deadlines, account questions or paperwork that cannot sit for another day. A trip to Līhue for in-person service will not solve anything on Wednesday, so anyone trying to keep a vehicle legal, file a property exemption or make a tax payment should plan ahead.

At the DMV, the county’s Līhue office normally operates Monday through Friday except holidays. County pages say Kupuna Hour for residents 65 and older begins at 8 a.m., and kupuna customers must be checked in by 8:45 a.m. Road-test applicants must book online, and the county also directs customers to use its website to schedule appointments or get information while the counter is closed.

Real Property customers have several backup options, which are especially important for exemption filings and payments tied to tax accounts. Exemption applications may be dropped in the box outside the Kapule Building at the Līhue Civic Center. Real property taxes may be paid online, by mail, in person or through the Civic Center drop box.

The county’s Real Property Assessment Office handles the discovery, listing and valuation of all real property in Kauai County, while the Billing & Collections Section handles tax billing and collections. That division of labor matters when a closure interrupts counter service, because residents still need a place for documents and payments to land on time.

The May 13 closure is not the first time Kauai has used a staff-training shutdown to keep public counters running smoothly. A nearly identical notice went out for June 17, 2025, and the county later announced another DMV training closure for Dec. 10, 2025, affecting both the main Līhue office and the Kapaa Satellite DMV office.