Levy reduces fleet of take-home cars

Spurred by Suffolk's fiscal woes, County Executive Steve Levy is pulling the keys from 46 more county officials with assigned cars, saving about $1 million per year.

Levy said Thursday that Public Works Commissioner Gilbert Anderson and his chief deputy, James Peterman, volunteered to give up their cars after a Levy mandate to department heads late last year to cut back on 10 percent of assigned cars, which employees are allowed to take home.

The county executive also said Suffolk's new commissioner of energy and environment, Brian Culhane, will not have a car when he starts work later this month; nor will the county's new planning director, who has yet to be announced. However, Levy aides said new interim probation director Gerry Cook will keep the county car his predecessor had.

"The public wants to know that the money in the county treasury is being spent in the most efficient way possible," Levy said. "When they see their hard-earned tax dollars doled out like political lollipops, they get very angry."

The latest round of cutbacks brings the number of cars that may be taken home to 245. There were 454 when Levy first took office in 2004. The biggest cuts came in public works, where 19 officials had to give up assigned cars, and in the health department, which lost 10.

Autos taken from officials will be available for use in the county motor pool. Levy said that will reduce the overall number of cars that the county will have to purchase annually, saving about $5 million over five years.

Levy said that assigning cars makes sense for employees such as health inspectors, who do significant amounts of driving and for whom it is more efficient to go directly to work sites rather than to their office farther away. When the usage is more than 50 percent for commuting, the administration reviews the car assignment, Levy said.

Levy acknowledged that some car assignments were "grandfathered" prior to his taking office and that personal assignment of cars is sometimes part of negotiations needed to attract "very high-level" county personnel.