With gas prices on the rise, it's no surprise that Mayor Byron W. Brown announced a 41 percent reduction of take-home vehicles used by City of Buffalo employees. This reduction means there will be 50 take-home vehicles available, instead of the previous 85.
"41 percent is a number we are pleased with, and we will continue to review other ways to save money," Mayor Byron Brown explained. With a decrease in take-home vehicles the money spent on gasoline for these vehicles is also expected to decrease by 41 percent, which was $231,985 in fiscal year 2007-2008.
Some city workers will be notified today that their take-home vehicle is now only available for use during the work day. This means they will have to drive their personal vehicles to and from work. "Additionally," Brown stated, "the vehicles will not be permitted to leave city limits unless pre-approved for conferences and meetings in which traveling by car would be cheaper than flying." There is no definite punishment defined for misusing work vehicles, but Brown stated there would be some type of "penalty, suspension, or termination" involved for violators of the new policy.
In the past, take-home vehicles operated on an honor system, in which vehicles were assumed to be only used when driving to and from work, or used to attend work-related functions. In accordance with the new take-home vehicle policy, "Any vehicle that is still available for take-home use will be monitored by spot checking and weekly reports provided by the City's Fuel Master tracking system that shows who puts fuel into a vehicle, how much fuel is put into a vehicle and at what time," Brown said.
When Brown asked about his personal take-home vehicle he said, "I need to be available to citizens around the clock, making it not possible for me to get rid of my car." The mayor's vehicle is considered a police vehicle, making it one of the 30 take-home police vehicles available aside from the reduction.
Immediately following the announcement, questions were posed concerning Brown's driver. Brown answered by stating "I don't have a driver. I have a police officer accompany me when I attend public events, and he generally only drives me to public events."