Who takes home city cars

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - It's your money and we are keeping a close eye on it for you.

22News Reporter Jaclyn Cashman uncovers who still gets a city vehicle in local government, despite the tough times.

This week several local communities passed their fiscal year 2010 budget, shaving off millions because local aid from the state was slashed.

But, it appears local governments didn't try to save money by discontinuing the perk of letting city workers take home municipal vehicles.

Mayor Michael Bissonnette told 22News every local government should be reviewing how many municipal workers take home city vehicles from time to time.

He told us that all the employees that bring these cars home are because they’re on-call for emergency purposes.

Mayor Michael Bissonnette said, "We have a policy where we have four departments that are on-call with a beeper system and they are water, sewer, parks and DPW. And they have a rotating schedule that goes along with the beeper."

The fire and police chiefs are among the twenty or so city vehicles going home every night.

Mayor Michael Sullivan told 22News about fifteen city employees can park their work cars at home.

The largest western Massachusetts city, Springfield, has more than one-hundred vehicles that workers can take home.

Here’s the breakdown:
Assessors Department - 3
DPW - 22
Fire Department - 22
Housing Department - 8
Building Department - 14
Health & Human Services - 2
TJO Animal Control - 3
Police - 13
Parks & Recreation - 23
Facilities Division - 7

Next up, we are going to try and figure out how much money the cities spend on these vehicles.