Proposal aims to stabilize budgeting for county fleet
EL CENTRO — Underutilization of several of the more than 500 Imperial County vehicles in the county’s fleet has created a budgeting headache at the County Garage.
Currently, county departments fund fleet operations, including maintenance and replacement, by paying fees based on miles driven. The mileage rate is based on the category vehicles are assigned. Mileage rates range from 36 cents a mile for sedans and mid-size trucks to 46 cents a mile for full-size trucks and sport utility vehicles.
In a typical year, county employees will rack up more than 5 million miles on the road. However, the pandemic has revealed the flaw in the funding system. County Fleet Services Manager Stephan Lobstein mileage for the current fiscal has dropped to 4.3 million miles, creating a shortfall for the department.
This is not expected to be a permanent decrease, as Lobstein expects fleet use to rebound in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
Nevertheless, a lesson has been learned. To ensure consistency in Fleet Services’ funding, Lobstein is proposing switching the reimbursement system to a flat rate per vehicle.
The monthly flat rate would depend on the vehicle, he said.
For instance, the 122 mid-size sedans in the county’s fleet would be billed at a monthly rate of $348 per vehicle.
That would contribute $42,456 per month or a little more than $509,000 for the fiscal year.
The monthly rate for the county’s 77 full-size trucks would be $822 for each truck. The
monthly rate for its 65 sports utility vehicles would be $667 each.
Lobstein said he conducts a fleet right-sizing evaluation annually to determine if county vehicles meet minimum use guidelines.
The minimum use guidelines apply to most vehicles to ensure departments are getting the optimal use of vehicles. Underutilized vehicles will be reassigned or removed from service, he said.
However, some specific use vehicles are exempt from the minimum-use criteria, and the department director must justify the special needs of the vehicle to remain active in the fleet. The exempt vehicles include the mobile dental clinic, mobile command center, fuel testing truck and dive truck.
Fleet Services is an internal service fund. In essence, it leases vehicles to the other departments within the county. It collects revenue monthly from the departments that are assigned vehicles for sustaining all components of fleet operations.
Departments that use a vehicle to provide services collect revenue from many sources such as grants, non-government organizations, local, state and federal sources.
The overall cost includes miles driven, operation and maintenance and the vehicle lease.
In the general fund, the Sheriff’s Office will have 130 vehicles and an annual cost of $1.03 million, while Behavioral Health in the non-general fund would have 71 vehicles with an annual cost of almost $331,000.
Imperial County fleet services manages all components of fleet operations for about 500 vehicles and the funding to sustain the fleet is collected through a mileage rate, though fleet services is requesting an increase to the amount of funding collected to recapture all operating costs.
Of the $2.9 million in Fleet Services expenditures, $1 million of that was for fuel and $400,000 was for salaries and benefits.
Besides making it
difficult to project budgets, mileage fees are an unstable funding source, Lobstein said. They encourage underutilization and result in delays in replacing vehicles, which reflects negatively on the county’s image.
He said the flat rate he will propose at today’s Board of Supervisors meeting ensures stable and predictable funding for fleet sustainability. It is easy to communicate and is a straightforward solution, he added.
The benefits include simplified budgeting, stable funding, proactive vehicle management, reduction of underutilized vehicles and increased vehicle reliability.
He also said the monthly flat rate will reduce unscheduled maintenance, reduce vehicle down times, reduce harmful emissions, reduce safety concerns and reduce exposure to liability.
He also noted what he called a “soft savings” to the county in terms of paperwork. He estimated the county expends around 60 employee hours per month preparing monthly mileage reports.