Audit: State vehicle use a ‘clunker’

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Nov 3, 2009 - Page: 6A

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A new audit concludes that state government is not efficiently using its nearly 13,000-vehicle fleet.

The Legislative Auditor’s Office looked at six agencies to see if vehicle costs were being reduced.

However, the report released Monday stated that, on average, the agencies used only half their fleet on a given day.

Other findings:

• The state isn’t operating a statewide motor pool in accordance with state law.
• Agencies aren’t required to turn in vehicles they don’t use.

Commissioner of Administration Angèle Davis agreed with most of the findings.

“Use/misuse of state-owned vehicles and reducing the size of our state’s fleet are at the top of (our) list of priorities,” Davis wrote in her official response to the audit.

Davis said one of the ways she is trying to cut costs is by limiting the number of state employees who are allowed to take a vehicle home.

In two years’ time, she wrote, there has been a 27 percent decrease in the use of state-owned vehicles for commuting between home and office.

Davis said she also is putting an emphasis on:

• Smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.
• Limiting new vehicle purchases, except in critical needs.
• Reducing the state fleet by 10 percent by the end of the year.
• Creating a pool of vehicles for agencies to lease when needed.

The audit noted that the Jindal administration — through Davis’ Division of Administration — is responsible for overseeing the fleet and approving new-vehicle purchases.

The Legislative Auditor’s Office looked at daily vehicle logs for six agencies — the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the Department of Social Services’ Office of Family Support, the Governor’s Office of Financial Institutions, the Department of Health and Hospitals’ Office of Management and Finance, the Secretary of State’s Office and the Department of Agriculture’s Office of Management and Finance — between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008.