Lisa Lucas Gardner has made it quite clear that she has a concern about the "misuse" of Town vehicles and what that is costing the taxpayer. She has pointed this out multiple times in Town Council Meetings and has recently obtained information from Town Manager, Lance Terpenny, as to exactly how many vehicles are taken home by town employees. (
see these actual documents online and click on the link "Take Home Vehicles" for Town Employees)
The information that Ms. Gardner obtained yielded this:
29 vehicles are taken home daily by employees of the Police Department
13 of these are going to locations out of town
16 to locations in town
20 vehicles are taken home by employees of Public Works
Total of 49 town vehicles are taken home by employees.
Given the current economic difficulties, I decided to do a bit of research on this to see what it MIGHT be costing taxpayers. I found a site that gives some National Averages for cost of owning, maintaining, and operating a vehicle at
YOUR DRIVING COSTS webpage that is based on information provided by AAA.
Please note that these estimates are based on 2006 data and would likely be even HIGHER now!!
Here are my assumptions:
- There is a total of 49 vehicles that are taken home by town employees each day.
- I am estimating an average of 20 extra miles per vehicle per week, which should be a low estimate as some people drive much further than others to get to and from work, and based upon reports that these vehicles are also being used for some personal driving (grocery store, etc.)
- Since the types of vehicles driven home are typically high performance vehicles, or trucks, I will use the three groups proved at the site for calculations: small sedan (not likely to apply), medium sedan (possibly applicable), and large sedan (should come close to the operating expenses of vehicles used.
- Gas and oil, maintenance, and tires are labeled as COST.
- Those listed in #4 along with the additional cost in taxes, depreciation, finance charges, registration, insurance and license fees (as if for a private vehicle are labeled at TOTAL EXPENSES . (Again, to be conservative this is based on 10,000 or less miles per year.)
- Using the above 4 criteria and data from 2006, the expenditures noted here should be a conservative estimate of what taxpayers are providing in the way of monetary support.
Calculations: Gas and oil, maintenance, and tires ONLY:
49 vehicles travel 20 miles per week for 1 year (52 weeks)
49 X 20 X 52 = 50,960 total extra miles per year
Small Sedan
COST = 13 cents per mile
TAXPAYER COST = .13 X 50,960 = $6,524.8
TOTAL EXPENSES = 50.5 cents per mile
TAXPAYER COST = .505 X 50,960 = $25,734.80
Medium sedan
COST = 15.5 cents per mile
TAXPAYER COST = .155 X 50,960 = $7,898.80
TOTAL EXPENSES = 62.4 cents per mile
TAXPAYER COST =.624 X 50,960 = $31,799.04
Large sedan
COST = 16.8 center per mile
TAXPAYER COST = .168 X 50,960 = $8,561.28
TOTAL EXPENSES = 72.9 cents per mile
TAXPAYER COST = .729 X 50,960 = $37,149.84
I think you get the general idea. Now imagine the money saved each year if even 1/3 of these vehicles were not being taken home. I am sure Mr. Terpenny can provide Town Council with a much more detailed accounting of these figures along with all information concerning any of these 'take home vehicles' that have been involved in accidents while not on actual duty and the expense of those incidents.
It looks like Ms. Lucas may be looking at a valid way in which the Town can cut some expenses before it looks towards raising taxes. I wonder what other areas are out there where the 'fat could be trimmed'. And, just in time to be addressed in next years budget!