New take-home car policy parked

MONCKS CORNER — Berkeley County Council has tapped the brakes on a plan to vastly reduce the number of take-home cars driven by non-law enforcement employees.

The council on Monday night declined to take action on a proposed policy restricting who gets to drive a take-home car. Councilmen said they still support cutting vehicle costs but want more information about how it would impact customer service and employee compensation packages.

"I know there's some fat that needs to be trimmed," Councilman Jack Schurlknight said. "I just want to make sure we're doing the right thing, not only for the employees but the taxpayers."

A staff report distributed at the council meeting says the number of current take-home cars is 77. It says 26 elected officials and on-call employees would continue to take the cars home under the criteria in the proposed policy. Another 26 would not qualify, although the report says it would be more operationally efficient to allow them. The remaining 25 cars would be used by employees once they're at work.

Five of the employees were promised cars as part of their compensation package, the report says.

Councilmen said 77 was obviously too many but they weren't sure where to start cutting. They agreed to table the issue for a month to give staff time to answer questions about what effects the cuts would have.

As of this summer, the county had as many as 95 take-home cars, more than North Charleston and Dorchester County combined. It was also more than the city of Charleston, though that number does not include the 63 take-home vehicles used by Charleston Water System.

Unlike most of its neighbors, Berkeley County does not require employees to pay a fee or reimburse the county if they travel long distances to work.

Berkeley County officials said they have received numerous complaints from the public about employees driving around the county with their families or eating inside their parked cars with the engine and air conditioning running.

Councilmen have noted that many employees with take-home cars don't live in the county. Some drive back and forth to Moncks Corner every day from as far as West Ashley and St. George.

Supervisor Dan Davis said that the current policy was put in place in 1995 and updated in December 2005, one month before he took office. "There are less cars assigned for take-home today than when I came into office," he said.

Reach Andy Paras at 745-5891 or aparas@postandcourier.com.