Las Vegas looks to trim its fleet

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005 | 7:49 a.m.

Las Vegas may own about 30 vehicles more than it needs, and getting rid of them could produce a one-time savings of about $700,000, the city's top vehicle manager said Tuesday.

The finding arises from a city audit of its fleet of more than 1,200 vehicles, with particular attention paid to light-duty vehicles, which include pickup trucks, cars, vans and SUVs. As of Sept. 30, Las Vegas owned 1,247 cars and trucks, including 566 light-duty vehicles.

While the audit did not specifically say how many vehicles the city should cut from its fleet, it pointed out that some city vehicles received little use. For example, 25 vehicles averaged less than 2,000 miles per year, including four that averaged less than 570 miles annually.

The audit also said the city may overuse some other vehicles -- 15 averaged more than 20,000 miles per year -- and suggested rotating the high-use units with others to spread out the miles driven.

In addition, the audit also called for the creation of a vehicle advisory committee to oversee the replacement program and take a closer look at the less-used vehicles.

The audit is to be reviewed Thursday by the city Audit Oversight Committee, which includes Councilmen Larry Brown and Lawrence Weekly.

Dan Hyde, Fleet and Transportation Services manager, said he agreed with the audit's findings and planned to have a new committee created by early next year.

Hyde also is overseeing a review of the existing city fleet, which he expects will be concluded in about two months and will show exactly how many vehicles the city could do without.

Hyde estimated that about 30 vehicles -- roughly 2.4 percent of the fleet -- will be deemed unnecessary.

"Yes, there are some that are underutilized, but there may be good reason," Hyde said. "Planning (Department) once in a while needs a vehicle to transport plans. Do they need three or four? No. But they need one ... And maybe that one can be shared."

Hyde said he will look for situations in which departments could share some of the city's less-frequently used vehicles.

If 30 vehicles are cut from the fleet, the city would save about $600,000 in future replacement costs, plus about $36,000 in maintenance, Hyde said. The city also would receive about $75,000 if it sold those vehicles at auction, he said.

However, the fleet reduction would probably be short-lived, he said, because Las Vegas routinely adds vehicles for the city marshals, who patrol city-owned property such as parks, and maintenance equipment such as street sweepers.

City Manager Doug Selby said his office asked for the audit to examine whether the city was using its vehicles for too long -- or not long enough. To monitor that issue in the future, he said the city could begin using vehicle fleet tracking software, as the audit suggested.

Dan Kulin can be reached at (702) 259-8826 or at dan@lasvegassun.com.