Changes to state fleet could save money

ROBERT KITTLE, News Channel 7
Published September 28, 2005

Even though the South Carolina Highway Patrol has one of the largest fleets of cars in state government, it still has to keep older ones around as back-ups and wrecked cars for spare parts.

But that could change soon.

Tuesday, the state Budget and Control Board voted to allow state agencies to voluntarily join a new state fleet management system. The Department of Public Safety, which includes the Highway Patrol, and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism have expressed interest in the new plan.

The new fleet system is the result of an extensive study done for the state by outside consultants.

Randy Owen, one of the consultants, said when he presented it to cabinet directors back in June, "For all the recommendations in our study, budgetary savings over the next five years would be around 50-million dollars."

But the state won't save that much, since that would require the entire system to be adopted and all of the recommendations of the study to be implemented. The board decided to try it voluntarily first, then get a report in about a year to see how it's going and how much it's saving.

The new fleet management system would completely change how state agencies acquire the vehicles they need.

Right now, an agency buys vehicles outright, which requires a large initial investment.

Under the new system, an agency would lease the vehicles it needs from a centralized state fleet.

The agency would make monthly payments, without having to come up with the entire cost of the vehicle up front.

Budget and Control Board spokesman Mike Sponhour says, "It would obviously require some changes in how the state pays for vehicles. But if we could get to a system like that, we think that we could have a smaller, more modern and more efficient fleet that would be very reliable for the agencies of the state."

It means the Highway Patrol would get new cruisers more often, which would improve safety and reliability.

The consultants' study found that the state had hundreds of vehicles that were rarely used, so the state is in the process of selling those.

The study also found that the state could save tax dollars by centralizing maintenance garages, but only if the fleet is also centralized. If it weren't, it would be less expensive to keep smaller garages scattered around the state, so vehicles wouldn't have to be driven so far for maintenance.

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