Government Workers Face Car Cuts. Or Not.
As someone who lived in the UK for 18 years, I was shocked to discover that Philadelphia’s mayor is named Nutter. Michael Nutter. I’m sorry, but the chances of anyone of that name being elected to public office in The Land of Hope and Glory are less than the chances that GM and Chrysler will pay back their federal loans early. OK, ever. So, anyway, WHYY reports on Mayor Nutter’s attempts to curb a good chunk of the the city’s taxpayer-funded fleet. Literally.
Mayor Michael Nutter announced today that he will shrink the city’s car fleet which has nearly 6000 vehicles by 243 in an effort to reduce spending. While the number may not sound like a lot, Nutter says this would save the city $1.5 million a year in maintenance and fuel costs. If you’re trying to do the math, using these numbers the city spends $6,200 per car, per year.
Nutter is not alone. The proliferation of “take home” taxpayer-funded cars (and car allowances) is facing an almighty backlash, as politicians try to find ways to cut expenses without pissing off their pork-scarfing pals.
In January, Connecticut Governor Rell moved to trim Connecticut’s vehicular fleet by 20 percent. Pennsylvania Governor Rendell pledged to “centralize” the state’s motor pool, which cost $72.5m and includes 16,637 vehicles. Let us know the deal (or no deal) in your state, but I bet it’s the same story in your neck of the woods.
Drill down, and the story’s the same at the local level. Taxpayer wheels are under attack at the Snohomish (WA) County Council, where “leaders have been raking in more than $6,800 a year in extra cash on top of their salaries as compensation for using their own vehicles on county business.” Again, I’d appreciate a heads-up on your municipality’s attempts at fleet/police car budget trimming.
[For comparison, the Telegraph reports China is cutting back on their 3.5 million “perk cars.”]
Unfortunately, as I reported previously, Uncle Sam’s economic stimulus package contains plenty of cash for new government cars. Two steps forward, one step back.
More by Robert Farago
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When Mayor John Street was in office, the first thing he bought was a fleet of Lincoln Navigators. Maybe they might be selling some of those. Or maybe they could force the council members who live outside the city to commute using their personal vehicles, instead of the city's.
"A Connecticut state employee is tagging a neighbor of mine. I assuming he’s a state cop because he drives a gray Crown Vic with black bull bars on the front and the multiple antennas on the trunk." In Connecticut, all State Troopers are assigned their own car, and take them home. This is because they can be called in to duty in case of an emergency. They also use the cars on extra duty traffic /construction work assignments. However, they cannot (are not supposed to) use them for personal transportation.