Free Ride by Users of County Cars Questioned

San Diego County pays more than $1.25 million each year for employee trips to and from work in county cars, according to a new report by its chief administrative officer.

The study, commissioned last year by the Board of Supervisors, found that 537 county cars, or 25% of the entire fleet, are kept at home by employees who use them for daily commuting to work.

In a letter to the board, Norman W. Hickey, author of the report, recommended that the county consider asking employees to reimburse the county in the future for mileage expenses if they commute to work in a county car. He also urged that the county adopt a uniform procedure for “home garaging.”

“There are no countywide policies regulating home garaging,” Hickey wrote in his report. “The written departmental policies do not specify criteria for authorizing home garaging.”

Clearly Marking Cars

Hickey has also suggested that all county cars be clearly marked as such unless they are used in investigations. Now, 70% of the vehicles kept at home by county employees are unmarked, and some employees have been removing county markings from cars assigned to them, according to David Janssen, assistant chief administrative officer.

The Board of Supervisors had planned to consider the report last Tuesday, but postponed discussion until Aug. 8 at the request of Supervisor George Bailey, who was unable to attend that part of the meeting.

“Unmarked cars garaged at home can be used virtually as private vehicles,” Supervisor Leon Williams said Tuesday. “I don’t find the rationale for doing it justifiable.” Williams said he was not surprised by the findings.

Most Prevalent in Sheriff’s Dept.

The practice is most prevalent in the Sheriff’s Department, the marshal’s office and the district attorney’s office, according to the report. Sheriff’s employees take home the most cars--356, or 55.4% of all cars assigned to that office.

Employees of the district attorney’s office take home 84 cars, or 93.3% of their auto pool.

The Sheriff’s Department explicitly allows its employees to use county vehicles for personal business. According to the sheriff’s policy manual: “ ‘Off duty’ use of authorized home-garaged vehicles is appropriate and expected in order to ensure availability of the assigned driver.”

Off-duty deputies often respond to service calls they pick up on the two-way radios in their cars, said Jack Drown, assistant sheriff for law enforcement. “You can throw out a number (for the cost of home garaging),” Drown said, “but you have to understand the kind of service that number buys. I’ve responded to radio calls while off duty--a policeman is a policeman 24 hours a day.”

Drown said the department has “a very defensible policy,” but will cooperate with county officials on possible revisions.

Several county officials said Hickey’s report pays too much attention to the bottom line, and not enough to the front lines of police work. Most department cars are kept at home by investigators who do undercover work and respond to crime scenes on nights and weekends, they said.

“In the name of 1 or 2 dollars a year, we can’t allow a bureaucrat to plan our operations,” said Stephen Casey, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office. “Law enforcement and prosecution do not lend themselves to an accountant’s calculator.”

‘Everybody’s Accountable’

Although the Board of Supervisors has overall financial oversight of county government, it cannot tell the district attorney, who is an elected official, how to manage his office, Casey said.

But the county charter vests the responsibility for vehicle use policies with the supervisors, according to Janssen. “Everybody’s accountable to somebody,” he said.

Policies on the private use of county cars were reviewed in 1977 and 1981, Janssen said. No uniform policy has existed in the county since 1984, when regulations were revised and the old vehicle-use policy was eliminated, he added.

“This keeps coming back like a bad penny,” Casey said. “We have been through this exercise almost annually, and one wonders if there aren’t bigger dragons out there for someone to slay.”

But Janssen countered that the report does not recommend limiting the number of cars taken home by county employees, but instead seeks a uniform procedure for approving the practice. “The public is certainly concerned about the use of government vehicles, and all we are saying is that the benefits are not as tangible as the costs,” he said.

County Marshal Michael Sgobba could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Assistant Marshal Les Conner refused to discuss the report.