Should town take-home cars be eliminated as gas prices spike?

As gas prices soar toward $4 a gallon, what is the Town of Mooresville doing to save taxpayer dollars by conserving fuel?

At Town Hall, apparently not very much. But individual departments have recently stepped up to the plate to ease some of the taxpayer burden.

The last memo issued by Town Hall, asking the public and town employees to conserve fuel, was in September 2005 when area gas prices topped $3 a gallon. The town’s director of administration and finance, Maia Setzer, told the Report when it first started asking questions about the town's fuel usage a month ago that “there have been several conversations” about the town conserving fuel. However, she said, she is “not aware” of any recent memos from Town Hall encouraging Mooresville employees to be more efficient.

From July 2007 through April 2008, the town paid an average of about $37,000 a month for fuel. April 2008 was the most expensive in the 10-month period, with employees and officials spending more than $49,000 in fuel. The least expensive month was February, at about $25,000. For each month’s fuel expenses, click on the document below:

Setzer said the figures are based on the date of invoices and not necessarily the date of the checks. For example, she said, an invoice dated July 30 is included in July’s information even though the check was issued Aug. 2, 2007.

The town’s monthly fuel expenses reflect fuel used by the town’s service vehicles, including police, fire, sanitation, etc. and other department employees conducting town work during normal business hours.

But the totals also include fuel used by town employees who have “take-home” vehicles. And Mooresville taxpayers are footing the bill for many of those people to drive back and forth to work every day from places like Salisbury, China Grove, Charlotte, Taylorsville, Huntersville, Statesville and Troutman.

With the exception of police, the fire chief and fire marshal, town employees with take-home vehicles are taxed $3 a day, said Human Resources Director Jackie Moore. In other words, to be able to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize their drive to work and back home each day, those employees have to “pay” the equivalent of one gallon of gas – minus $1 – a day.

Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith, who lives about a mile from Town Hall, drives his town-issued vehicle back and forth to work each day. Smith did not respond to Report questions about fuel usage this week.

Public Works Director John Vest also has a Mooresville-owned take-home vehicle that he drives back and forth to work from his home. In an e-mail to the Report today, Vest -- on behalf of the public services administration, public works, utilities and engineering departments -- provided a list of ways that the public services departments are working to conserve fuel during business hours.

Vest also provided a list of department employees with town take-home cars, including himself, the public works manager, street supervisor, fleet superintendent, sanitation superintendent and the building and grounds superintendent -- all of whom, Vest points out, are "on call" for emergencies. (For Vest's complete response, click on the documents below:)

While Vest provided a list of public services employees who have town take-home vehicles, he also said that the department does not require those employees to maintain a mileage log or a log of how many times they have been called back to work after business hours.

Unfortunately, that leaves one to wonder if the taxpayers' "return" matches the "investment." For instance, it is unclear -- since no logs are maintained -- how many times Vest, listed as a resident of Salisbury, has actually been called back to work in Mooresville for an "emergency" situation. Additionally, another public services employee listed in Vest's document is said to live in the Charlotte area but drives his Town of Mooresville vehicle between home and work in case he's called back for an after-hours "emergency."

As a Mooresville citizen, I would hope that in the event of a true emergency, we wouldn’t wait the half-hour or so it would take for our public services employees to drive here from Salisbury or Charlotte.

Police officers make up the highest number of town employees with take-home vehicles. Mooresville Police Chief John Crone, in an e-mail to the Report today, provided a copy of a message that he said the police department sent to all drivers of police vehicles, offering specific ways they can reduce fuel consumption while patrolling the Mooresville community. It is unclear when the message was sent to the officers.

But specific to after-shift use of police vehicles, Crone said the department does not maintain a mileage log of officers who drive their vehicles home or to "secondary employment," including part-time, off-duty jobs such as Wal-Mart and directing traffic during lunch and class changes near the NASCAR Technical Institute.

Crone said the department also does not keep a log of the number of times officers are called back into work after their shift is over. However, he said that "members of the Special Response Team are called in most frequently (about once every two weeks for a high risk situation) while accident reconstructionists may be called back about once a month." Also, Crone added, "A detective may be called in about once a week, and each patrol officer is called back for additional manpower about once a month."

Most would agree that seeing police cars parked throughout the community provides a sense of safety and security for area residents. But the question is why many of our officers are allowed to use Mooresville tax dollars to fill up their gas tanks then drive home to Taylorsville, Troutman, Statesville, Huntersville, Salisbury, China Grove, Taylorsville, Cleveland, Lincolnton and Cabarrus and Catawba counties.

In fact, of the 48 police officers on Human Resources’ list of employees with take-home vehicles, at least 19 live outside of Mooresville.

Some may agree that it’s important for officers to have their patrol cars in the event that they’re called back into work after hours, and many would also likely agree that officers with specialized training should be able to take their police cars home. But without a log of exactly how many times regular patrol officers are called back into work, the question becomes: If the police department has officers on duty around the clock, just how often does a situation so dire arise that it has to call its regular patrol officers back to work after their shift is over?

For a complete look at Crone's e-mail to the Report, click on the documents below:

Mooresville Fire Chief Wes Greene said that he and Fire Marshal Gary Styers are the only two fire personnel with take-home vehicles, “and we both live in the town limits,” he added.

In addition to attending town meetings after hours, Greene said he uses his town car to respond to “incidents and investigations, depending on the type of incident and severity.”

Greene also forwarded a memo, dated May 28, in which the assistant fire chief instructed all Mooresville fire personnel to “bring meals for the entire day.” It states that fire equipment cannot be used to travel for food purchases and warns that “more stringent orders may follow if gas/diesel prices continue to rise.”

In conclusion, states the memo, “It is our responsibility to use every penny of tax money efficiently so that we can continue to deliver superior service to the citizens.”

To read the entire memo, click on the document below:


The town’s recreation director, Wanda McKenzie, also has a take-home vehicle. She said she lives just over four miles from her office at the War Memorial. While she said she has not kept a log of after-hour miles put on her vehicle, or the number of times she has been called back into work after business hours, “I would guess it is an average of six times a month for some reason or another,” she said.

“I do not go home at all during the day, so it is just round trip,” McKenzie said, adding, “I do, however, come back at night and on weekends for special events and sometimes just to check on things. For instance, I came by Saturday for the pool opening to make sure everything was going okay.”

She said the recreation department has taken specific steps to conserve fuel. For example, when athletic staff members visit the parks for various reasons, they are instructed to take everything they need, leave there for games and go “park to park” instead of back to the office, McKenzie said.

The recreation department also keeps a list of needed materials and supplies so that all the department’s errands can be run in as few trips as possible. “I have also asked for suggestions from staff members on ways we can conserve,” McKenzie added.

How about town commissioners? While they are allowed a mileage reimbursement for trips taken while on town business, Commissioner Frank Rader has recently begun driving a town-owned vehicle.

Rader said he drives the car – which government officials call “Big Blue” – to travel to Statesville for meetings of the Iredell County Board of Commissioners and the Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education. He also uses the vehicle to travel to Raleigh for meetings of the N.C. League of Municipalities, the Department of Natural Resources and “legislative meets.” He said he also drives the town car to Lincolnton for meetings of the Lake Norman Rural Planning Organization and to other places for “area conferences, summits and go sees.”

“I top it off before and after each trip … my top offs will show under Erskine (Smith)’s gas records,” Rader wrote in an e-mail to some government officials last month, shortly after the Report e-mailed questions about town employees’/commissioners’ fuel usage.

“Monday to Raleigh, (the car) got 26+ miles per gallon, calculated on pump gallons and odometer miles,” Rader wrote, noting to Town Clerk Janet Pope: “By the way, Janet, it pulled a bit to the left.

“My next use is Friday to go to Charlotte,” Rader continued. “Blue is well maintained, and I drive with traffic flow so I don’t think Blue can do any better.”

For the list of all town employees with take-home vehicles, provided to the Report by Human Resources, click on the documents below: