Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News
July 10, 2008 11:49 am
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CUMBERLAND - The high price of fuel is driving many small governments to review their practices of allowing workers to take work-owned vehicles home each day, but the Allegany County Board of Education already runs a "fairly lean" operation, board member Tom Striplin said.
"People shouldn't jump to conclusions," Striplin said at Tuesday's board meeting after a brief report by Finance Director Randy Bittinger. "I think our fleet is fairly lean. Is there room to improve? Sure there is."
Jim Smith, assistant superintendent filling in for absent Superintendent of Schools Bill AuMiller, suggested staff "do a case-by-case rationale" for each of the nine vehicles currently driven home by employees on a daily basis.
That way, he said, "we can get an idea what the actual cost is for each vehicle."
Bittinger acknowledged the school system has no method to track commuting miles versus work-related miles driven. Given time, a method could be developed.
Most of the school system's 45 vehicles are pickup trucks and vans used by operations and maintenance personnel. Model years range from the early 1990s to 2008.
Much of the cost of work-related fuel is consumed by vehicles driven by administrators and staff traveling down state to various meetings with officials from Maryland State Department of Education and the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.
Driving to and from Annapolis is roughly 325 miles round-trip. Union-negotiated mileage reimbursement is 58.5 cents per mile, an increase of 8 cents over last fiscal year. Assuming a vehicle gets 26 miles per gallon, a single trip costs $190.13.
But cost-saving measures, including last year's agreement with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, have helped the board save money on required trips. The corporate rental rate is $40 per day with an estimated fuel cost of $50, for a total of $90 - and no mileage reimbursement necessary, Bittinger said. It's a savings of up to 52 percent. Staff has utilized Enterprise cars 157 times in the past year.
"In addition to (those) savings, the board of education avoids insurance and other maintenance costs of a fleet vehicle," Bittinger said in his report. "With a vehicle fleet, you have costs 365 days a year. With Enterprise, the board of education pays only when the vehicle is needed."
Cost savings like these, Bittinger said, keep the Allegany County school system under the statewide budget percentages for what is spent on administration and mid-level administration.
Bittinger said he hopes many meetings down state will be reduced as gas prices soar. "We would not be opposed to conference calls and Webcasting," Bittinger said.
Striplin, a past MABE board member, said the organization "hasn't gotten to that point."
"It's striking to me," Striplin said. "It's one of the reasons I stepped down. They need to come up to speed."
Board member Jeff Metz said the general public rightfully worries "about footing the bill" for the handful of employees who drive board-owned vehicles each day. But some take-home vehicles, such as maintenance or operations, "are obvious," as workers may not head to the same job site on consecutive days.
Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.
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