As of January 1, 2008, County employees with take-home vehicles will be reduced by half Annapolis (December 18, 2007) - County Executive John R. Leopold announced today that effective January 1, 2008, Anne Arundel County will reduce the number of take-home vehicles for county employees by nearly 55 percent resulting in an annual estimated savings of about $600,000. Each department assigns its fleet of take-home vehicles to individual county employees whose daily work requires travel to various sites throughout the county. In July of this year, all 317 take-home vehicles were evaluated based on the employee’s job requirements and cutbacks were made on a case-by-case basis. In the past, mileage for all county vehicles had been only assessed for low utilization. "Fiscal responsibility is a priority of this Administration and particularly in these tight budget times," said County Executive Leopold. "I asked our department heads to take inventory of their take-home vehicles and evaluate where reductions could be made without sacrificing the quality of service provided to county residents, and I am pleased with their results." The outcome was a reduction of 174 take-home vehicles, resulting in an estimated annual fuel and maintenance savings in excess of $600,000 based on the Internal Revenue Service’s mileage rate of $.48 per mile. County employees assigned to the 174 vehicles identified will now be required to use their personal cars for their daily commute and a county vehicle for county business only. The county Department of Public Works and the Department of Central Services had the greatest total reductions of take-home vehicles. County police vehicles were not included in the take-home vehicle assessment. In all of the departments a case-by-case analysis determined whether emergency responders and public safety personnel that live within the county would be permitted to keep their take-home vehicle. | 
