Erie County employees with takehome vehicles and cell phones are being asked to justify their use or turn them in.

County Executive Chris Collins says county employees could then use a pooled car or a cell phone assigned to their departments as needed.

The names of those people who do get to keep their 24-hour vehicle and the reason why they are assigned those vehicles will be posted on the county’s Web site, erie.gov.

“Part of this is morale,” Collins spokesman Grant Loomis said. “What message does it send to a county employee who works very hard all day long to then see someone in their department have a county vehicle that they can take home, when their likelihood of using it after hours is slim to none. I think people are resentful of that.”

Collins and Deputy County Executive Mark Davis are asking the employees in departments they control — not those run by the sheriff, county clerk, district attorney or comptroller — to fill out a form indicating why they need a county-issued vehicle or cell phone round-the-clock.

Employees who can be called to work at any time — sewer technicians, public works staff, emergency services officials — are likely to keep their vehicles. And employees who do most of their work outside the office are likely to keep their cell phones.

County government has 700 to 800 cell phones and wireless devices. In an audit of their use in 2006, Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz found that many employees rarely use their cell phones. Others use them extensively, he found, and detected some cases of personal use that required the county be reimbursed.

The Internal Revenue Service treats employer-provided cell phones like employer-provided cars: Their use for personal reasons is a taxable benefit.

“County employees across the board, from department heads on down, routinely violate the existing county wireless policy with no consequences whatsoever,” Poloncarz said at the time, when Joel A. Giambra was county executive.

Erie County issues more than 100 vehicles to employees for 24-hour use, and the county provides the gas, insurance and maintenance. The majority of those vehicles, about 70, go to personnel in the sheriff’s and district attorney’s offices. Thirty- one, according to a report in May 2007, went to employees under the county executive’s control.

Collins is driving his personal vehicle to and from work, not the one provided by the government, and occasionally will use a pooled vehicle during the work day, said Loomis, his spokesman.

Collins’ employees have been asked to complete a “justification worksheet” for their vehicle or cell phone by Thursday. They’ll find out by Feb. 15 whether they can keep them.

mspina@buffnews.com

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