HeraldOnline - Reducing the state car fleet

Reducing the state car fleet

(Published December 11‚ 2003)

Gov. Mark Sanford sometimes appears to be swatting at gnats in his efforts to trim the state's budget, such as his proposal to require state employees to share hotel rooms when they go on out-of-town business trips. But his proposal to reduce the state's car fleet makes sense and probably would save some real money.

South Carolina has nearly 18,000 fleet cars, while North Carolina, which is twice as big, has only 9,617. South Carolina has 38 state cars for every 10,000 residents, compared to Tennessee's 17, Alabama's 13 and North Carolina's 12.

Sanford has proposed selling off more than a third of those state vehicles and permanently reducing the number of cars the state buys and maintains. Selling 6,155 state cars, pickups and vans could generate nearly $34 million, he estimates.

In the future, as Sanford envisions it, many state cars would be leased, saving about $8.5 million a year. Car maintenance operations would be consolidated, and the Department of Mental Health maintenance shop would be eliminated altogether, saving an estimated $850,000. Other options include renting cars or paying employees to use their own cars.

The state would, however, continue to buy vehicles for some essential services. Sanford's plans would not affect the state-owned bus system, law enforcement cruisers, Transportation Department vehicles or Corrections Department vans used to carry prisoners.

While Sanford hopes to completely overhaul the state's car fleet operations, the Budget and Control Board already has planned a cost-cutting measure of its own. Beginning Jan. 1, state agencies can pay discounted rates to lease high-mileage vehicles from the state fleet through a program dubbed Golden Cars.

The cars and vans being leased all would have 100,000 miles or more on the odometer, a point at which state cars usually are retired. But state officials believe that these Golden Cars still have some useful life in them.

The program would affect only about 1,800 cars, but leasing them would spare the state the expense of buying new cars right away and save agencies money with lower rates. And, if a car starts breaking down frequently, it will be pulled from the program.

South Carolina clearly has more vehicles than it needs and more than other states get by on. If the governor can come up with creative ways to economize on transportation costs without compromising safety or security, lawmakers should approve the changes, especially if the savings are as significant as Sanford asserts.

Many South Carolinians are driving cars with more than 100,000 miles on them. And many families no doubt are reducing the size of their own "fleets" to help make ends meet. It seems only appropriate that the state should do the same.

Sanford's proposal to slash the number of cars owned by the state has merit.