The use of Pima County vehicles by supervisors and other county employees might run afoul of IRS regulations, one supervisor warned Tuesday.
Reports detailing the use need to contain detailed mileage counts, Supervisor Ally Miller said at the board meeting. “I’m just really concerned that we are out of compliance with IRS rules,” she said.
Miller said county policy requires employees to submit a detailed mileage log, which she said is not being done.
The issue was brought up in a general discussion about the use of county vehicles and policies regarding take-home cars.
The county has 645 take-home vehicles in its fleet. About 493 of those belong to the Sheriff’s Department. The county’s total fleet includes more than 1,600 vehicles.
Miller sought to discuss costs associated with allowing certain employees to take work vehicles home as well as the county practice of providing cars for all elected officials.
Reports that county elected officials submit cover the period from November of the previous year through October of the reporting year. These include total miles driven in the county car and the personal use of the car.
Personal usage typically means miles commuting from home to work. It’s considered a taxable benefit that must be reported to the IRS.
Miller’s own experience in reporting personal use made her think there could be a problem with how county workers and elected officials report the information.
In Oct. 2014, Miller reported driving a county vehicle about 5,600 miles for the year. However, she only reported 100 miles of personal use.
“A staff member made a mistake,” she said. “It’s a non-issue.”
Miller said she has since amended her report to the IRS to show 4,000 miles of personal usage on the car.
She has since returned the car and no longer uses a county-provided vehicle. She wants other supervisors to do the same.
“I don’t think we need these cars,” Miller said, saying the costs to taxpayers were unnecessary.
Supervisor Richard Elías said he agrees the county should have a policy in place that ensures accuracy.
“I think accuracy is important,” Elías said. “I applaud Supervisor Miller recognizing any errors that she made.”
Miller’s motion to end the practice of providing county cars for supervisors, however, failed for lack of support.
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said any savings would be minimal if all supervisors abandoned their cars, estimating it about $1,000 per year.
The reason, as Huckelberry wrote in a memo, is that the county would need to reimburse supervisors for mileage if they used their personal vehicles.
Last year, supervisors collectively drove more than 42,053 miles in county cars. At the IRS reimbursement rate of 57.5 cents per mile, the county would have to pay more than $24,000 in reimbursements to supervisors.
Miller said the costs to the county to buy vehicles specifically for supervisors was not included in the calculations.
Rather than have cars specifically for supervisors, she suggested they have access to a “motor pool” of county cars to use when needed.
Huckelberry described the entire discussion as one “designed for political theater” in the memo.
Supervisors voted to make no changes to the existing vehicle use policy.
