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It’s penny-pinching time in Bonita Springs.

With falling property values and revenues, the city for its budget cycle starting Oct. 1 will cut its services by 41 percent — mostly by not making road improvements or building public structures.

And the City Council has proposed a 15 percent tax rate increase on property owners so the government doesn’t have to cut more.

To keep the property tax rate the same, the City Council would have to cut an additional $1.06 million from its proposed $21.5 million budget, and with few major cuts remaining, the focus would have to shift to the little things.

Bonita Springs spends $31,800 each year to give vehicle allowances to eight employees; and the city has spent another $43,316.91 so far this budget cycle to fuel and insure a fleet of 15 vehicles for three city departments.

“It bears looking at and asking questions,” Councilman John Spear said. “We remain responsible to the taxpayers for the way the city spends their money.”

The car allowances are one of three alternatives the government has for getting its employees around in their jobs. The other options are to buy employees separate city-owned cars, or have the employees drive their own cars and be reimbursed at the Internal Revenue Service rate of 58.5 cents per mile.

“It saves the city a lot of money, the car allowances,” City Manager Gary Price said.

Public Works Manager Daryl Walk is one of the eight employees with a car allowance.

When he started with the city, Walk had the option to have the city buy him a car, but he chose to have the allowance instead. It’s easier for him to own the car and pay the fuel and insurance costs rather than bear the responsibility of using a public vehicle.

“Basically, I just use my own car for city business,” Walk said.

The car allowance, which ranges from $2,400 to $6,000 based on the employee’s position, includes fuel costs for travel inside of Lee County. If the employee travels outside the county for city business, the fuel costs can be reimbursed at 58.5 cents per mile.

All the city employees without car allowances, which includes the City Council members, receive the mileage rate for travel inside and outside the county when they use their own vehicles.

“To be honest, we don’t have that much travel because we really don’t have that many employees,” said Lisa Roberson, Bonita finance director.

Two city employees — Price and City Attorney Audrey Vance — receive their car allowances as part of their contracts with Bonita Springs.

Price prefers the car allowance incentive to getting a public vehicle because with a government car, he has to be much more particular in how he uses it.

“If I want to stop and have a drink with somebody after work, I don’t want to be doing it in a city vehicle,” Price said.

When the City Council proposed the 15 percent tax rate hike, Councilman Pat McCourt objected to the increase, feeling the government should work with the money raised by the current rate rather the dipping further into the pockets of property owners.

In managing the city’s coffers, Price should be willing to cut expenses such as car allowances or something similar rather than raising the tax rate, McCourt said.

“If he feels having car allowances is important, then he should be willing to cut from some other place,” McCourt said. “That’s why we have a city manager ... these are priorities that he sets.”

Maintaining a city fleet of vehicles costs, too.

Bonita paid $23,820.91 in fuel expenses alone from October to July in this budget cycle plus another $19,496 in annual insurance costs.

“I don’t know why we need all of those cars at Parks & Recreation,” McCourt said. “Everybody has to have a truck to run around in, supposedly.”

Bonita Springs has a fleet of 15 vehicles — all trucks and SUVs — that are used by the Code Enforcement, Parks & Recreation and Public Works departments. There are no take-home vehicles, nor are they assigned to any one employee.

“Right now, the trucks are running strong,” said Keith Larson, Parks & Recreation director. “We’ll be able to use these for awhile.”

The idea behind the fleet for those departments is those workers must travel a lot as they do their jobs; the trucks and SUVs are needed because their job sites tend to be rougher on the vehicles, and the workers can haul equipment as they go about their duties.

“It certainly seems logical for a code enforcement officer to have a vehicle since their primary responsibility is to be out in the field,” Spear said.

To make sure the city fleet is properly used, each of the departments keeps vehicle logs with the mileage, the reason the car was used, the fuel used and the average miles per gallon.

“They could drive three blocks out of the way, and I wouldn’t notice, but ... we have a pretty good idea of what they’re being used for,” Walk said of the three trucks and two SUVs used by the Public Works Department.

To have an exact idea of what fleet vehicles are used for, the New York-based company Vehicle Tracking Solutions can install equipment in each vehicle, and the company’s clients can view how their cars are being used in both real time and over a 13-month history.

“We are starting to get involved in the government and public sector,” said Ed Teixeira, chief operating officer of Vehicle Tracking Solutions. “If one just saves one or two gallons per day, that really adds up for a year.”

Bonita Springs doesn’t use any electronic vehicle tracking, but if the city signed up with Vehicle Tracking Solutions or another similar company, the start-up costs would be $300 to $600 plus a monthly fee of $50.

The company says its clients see the savings in the amount of fuel used and more efficient workers who know their movements are being tracked.

The biggest deterrent to fleet misuse in Bonita Springs isn’t electronic tracking, but the no-take-home policy that keeps the vehicles on city property when they aren’t being used, Price said.

Most city employees live far enough away where they wouldn’t have any reason to abuse the fleet.

“We’ve never had a take-home policy,” he said.

When the first public hearing on the proposed Bonita Springs budget and tax rate increase starts Sept. 5, the City Council will have to focus on issues large and small in spending the government’s limited resources.

With a $21.5 million proposed budget, there’s a lot more to examine in addition to the $75,116.91 spent on cars.

“Did we need a 15 percent tax increase this year?” McCourt said. “No, especially not in the face of a struggling economy.”

___

BONITA CITY EMPLOYEES WITH VEHICLE ALLOWANCE

These Bonita Springs city employees receive a vehicle allowance as part of their positions:

• City manager* — $6,000

• City attorney* — $4,800

• Public Works manager — $4,200

• Assistant city manager — $3,600

• Special projects coordinator — $3,600

• Grant coordinator — $3,600

• Special events coordinator — $3,600

• City clerk-treasurer — $2,400

• Total — $31,800

* Part of employee contracts

Source: Bonita Springs Finance Department