County cuts one-third of vehicles, including 10 from administrators Montgomery County has cut about one-fifth of the taxpayer-funded vehicles employees drive home at night, including 10 driven by senior administrators — but County Executive Ike Leggett’s Jeep Grand Cherokee is not among them.
The county’s latest policy change eliminated 33 county government employees’ take-home vehicles, the county’s Department of General Services Director David Dise announced at a meeting of the County Council’s Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee. That leaves the county with 234 vehicles that employees drive between home and work.
| Cuts in take-home vehicle program | ||
| Department | March 2011 | September 2011 |
| Corrections | 3 | 3 |
| Office of the County Executive | 2 | 1 |
| Environmental Protection | 23 | 19 |
| General Services | 20 | 16 |
| Housing and Community Affairs | 22 | 20 |
| Transportation | 75 | 64 |
| Technology Services | 3 | 3 |
| Health and Human Services | 23 | 25 |
| Homeland Security | 1 | 0 |
| Liquor Control | 7 | 6 |
| Police | 19 | 17 |
| Permitting Services | 66 | 55 |
| State’s Attorney’s Office | 4 | 4 |
The policy limits take-home cars to “those employees whose duties mandate it” and prevents cars from being used as an employment perk — a problem that council members have said they aim to eliminate.
It also eliminates 10 senior administrators’ vehicles, including Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine’s, according to Dise, and limits six senior administrators’ use to December through February. Though Department of Transportation Director Arthur Holmes is keeping his vehicle, he will reimburse the county for mileage unrelated to his job.
Leggett said he will keep his personal take-home vehicle although data from the council lists the SUV among those eliminated. Leggett said it’s more cost effective to drive his county-funded 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee than for the county to reimburse him for the miles he drives around the county while working.
“I’m not in the same category [as other Montgomery County officials],” he said. “There’s nobody that has … the same schedule, same demands that I have.”
Among the restrictions are requirements that the vehicles not be taken out of the Baltimore-Washington area, used to engage in political activity, or driven for personal use. The policy does not apply to Leggett because he is an elected official.
However, the county has not installed GPS devices in the cars, Dise said, so his department relies on employees to be honest about their use of their vehicles.
Councilman Hans Riemer, D-at large, has been a champion of this issue and expressed doubts about the honor system. “We’ve got to do something that is not relying on people’s good nature,” he said.
Riemer and Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, D-at large, said the cuts were not enough.
“I’m just not sympathetic to the critical need,” Floreen said. “It’s convenient. It means you don’t have to drive your own car to work and leave it there.”
However, Leggett said he was “not convinced yet” that cutting back on take-home cars would save money in the long run.
In addition to the 234 take-home vehicles in county government, more than 1,300 vehicles are assigned to police and fire officials, as well as 53 used by employees in county-funded agencies such as the public school system and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Leaders across both areas told the council Monday that they are developing policies so they, too, can keep a close watch on take-home vehicle use.
