US Government's Car Fleet Numbers 642,233

US Government's Car Fleet Numbers 642,233

WASHINGTON — Americans love their cars, and so apparently does Uncle Sam. He's got 642,233 of them. Operating those vehicles _ maintenance, leases and fuel _ cost taxpayers a whopping $3.4 billion last year, according to General Services Administration data obtained and analyzed by The Associated Press.

While Cabinet and other officials say they need the vehicles to do their jobs, watchdogs say mismanagement of the government fleet is costing millions of dollars a year in wasteful spending.

For example:
_ At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, fuel consumption and inventory are down, yet overall costs have increased significantly. Officials there can't figure out why.
_ The Interior Department was told by its own watchdog that it should cut its inventory, but it's added hundreds of vehicles.
_ The VA has some cars that are barely driven. One just disappeared.
Add to that the cost of drivers, a perk given to high-level government officials.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has two drivers. Their salaries totaled more than $128,000 last year.
The driver for Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt earns about $90,000 a year. That's more than double the average salary of an office manager or accountant, and about $35,000 more than a registered nurse earns, according to a salary calculator provided by CareerBuilder.com.

The government owns or leases sedans, SUVs, trucks, limousines and ambulances for more than three dozen agencies, the U.S. military and the Postal Service. Are they all really necessary?
"This is one bleeding part of a budget and not just in one department but in a lot of departments," says Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime foe of what he considers wasteful federal spending. "When you have something bleeding like this, there can be a lot of money saved."
Saving taxpayer dollars should be a priority, says Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste.

Federal agencies also have dedicated cars and drivers for senior officials.
In addition to the salaries for the two drivers for Transportation Secretary Peters, her car, fuel and maintenance cost $11,500 last year. Most agency chiefs have one driver.

The department says Peters needs two because the "cost of paying one driver overtime to cover both weekday shifts and weekends would be prohibitive." A spokesman said a driver has to be on duty or available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for Peters.
The Veterans Affairs Department has five sedans assigned to Secretary James Peake, the deputy secretary and the three top officials for the health office, benefits office and national cemetery administration. Total cost for the five cars and drivers: $353,470 a year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/31/us-governments-car-fleet_n_116229.html