Governor Rell: Initial Decrease in State Fleet

Will Save State $41,000 a Month

Governor’s January 9 Executive Order

To Further Reduce Fleet by 20 Percent, Curb Spending

            Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that over the past four months, state agencies have turned in over 100 state vehicles as one part of the effort to reduce overall travel related expenses by 10 percent. 

“Taking these vehicles off line saves the state approximately $41,000 every month,” Governor Rell said during a tour of the state surplus garage in Wethersfield. “This is an encouraging start and efforts are well under way to trim the fleet by an additional 20 percent to comply with my executive order to further curb spending.”

            Executive Order No. 22 , issued January 9, gives the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) final authority over buying and maintaining all state vehicles except the specialized vehicles needed by the Department of Transportation. The former decentralized system of allowing agencies to have their own fleets resulted in inefficiency, waste and inappropriate use of cars, the Governor said.

The Governor further ordered that any car or light truck purchased by DAS after January 1 be classified by the U.S. EPA as “best in its class” for gasoline mileage unless DAS determines the vehicle is not available or too expensive.

“We will be able to reap even more savings as we take more inefficient vehicles off the road, share cars between agencies and limit the number of employees who can use state-owned vehicles,” Governor Rell said.

            The vehicles in the surplus lot were turned in by 27 different agencies or divisions of state government. They included compact cars, pickup trucks, cargo vans and hybrid vehicles. The Department of Environmental Protection returned 17 vehicles, the most by any agency.  Some of the vehicles in the lot the Governor toured will be auctioned, while others may be exchanged out with other vehicles currently in the fleet because they are newer than ones now being used by agencies

            Governor Rell said the state spent $21 million replacing vehicles last fiscal year and $15 million this fiscal year. There were 4,300 cars in the state fleet before the Governor issued her executive order.

Other fleet facts (with the exception of state trooper cars):

·        Fleet vehicles logged 48 million miles in 2008;

·        Fleet averaged 200,000 miles a day;

·        Fleet averages 21.6 miles per gallon;

·        Fleet requires more than 9,200 gallons of fuel per day.

·        460 surplus vehicles were auctioned off for $936,000 since October

            The Governor’s executive order also imposes stricter rules on when and why state employees can use a state-owned vehicle and takes cars away from most state agency commissioners and any employee who speeds or drives recklessly. State workers who drive 700 miles or more a month can use a fleet vehicle.

Any official or employee who has been the subject of two or more complaints involving the vehicle or has received two or more moving violations in a six-month period could lose the right to a state car for one year.

“We owe it to our taxpayers to use state-owned cars as economically and as safely as possible,” Governor Rell said.