West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Telling West Virginia's Story
A state-sponsored surplus vehicle auction is set for this week in West Virginia.
The West Virginia Purchasing Division says in a news release that about 45 vehicles will be auctioned off Wednesday at the State Agency for Surplus Property warehouse in Dunbar.
Payments can be made by cash, check or major credit card. All sold vehicles must be removed within five business days.
A list of available vehicles can be found at http://www.state.wv.us/admin/purchase/surplus/vehicle.html.
Delegates voted on 12 pieces of legislation in the House yesterday, including one that creates a centralized state vehicle inventory system. The bill was the result of both an interim study and a request from Gov. Jim Justice.
One of the first bills presented to lawmakers on behalf of Governor Justice was to create and maintain a vehicle inventory system for state cars.
That bill was introduced and sent to the House Committee on Government Organization, but the committee decided instead to push their own version of that bill; House Bill 2004, which was up for a vote in the chamber Monday.
The bill’s goal is to figure out exactly how many cars the state owns. According to the Legislative Auditor’s Office, that’s a difficult question to answer and the number depends on who you ask. The Auditor’s Office estimates West Virginia owns anywhere between 7,600 to 12,600 vehicles.
The bill keeps in code many of the same measures that are in law today, but essentially starts the inventory from scratch. It says all the data about state vehicles would be housed at the Fleet Management Office. The inventory system would still distinguish state, county and city vehicles with different color plates.
House Government Organization Chair Delegate Gary Howell is the lead sponsor of House Bill 2004.
“What this bill will do will begin to get a handle on it,” Howell explained, “We’re changing the color of the license plates on it; to get the old green ones out of the system, because we know that some of those tags have disappeared and may be on private cars and stuff like that.”
Howell says new state vehicle license plates will be gold with blue letters. The plates on county and city owned vehicles would remain the same – red with white letters for counties and blue with white lettering for municipalities.
Howell says by creating the new inventory, the state will be able to track spending more closely.
“We know where our personal vehicles are, we know how much we have in them, we know what our maintenance costs are, we know how much we’re buying on fuel, and when times are tough, we track that,” Howell said, “We decide, is this trip needed? And stuff like that. The state should be doing the same thing, and when you don’t know what you have, you can’t do that.”
The bill passed 99 to 0 in the House and now heads to the Senate for consideration.
In a memo signed by his deputy chief of staff, Gov. Jim Justice has placed a moratorium on state vehicle purchase, prohibiting them “indefinitely.”
Any exceptions, according to the memo, “will only be granted in the most extraordinary circumstances” and must be approved by the Governor’s Office.
Since taking office in January, Justice has made reducing the size of the state’s vehicle fleet a top priority. So far, state agencies have handed over the keys to more than 300 vehicles, which will likely be auctioned off.
In the memo, Deputy Chief of Staff Jason Pizatella wrote he expects that number will increase.
Pizatella also reminded cabinet secretaries and agency heads that the hiring freeze implemented by former-Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin would remain in effect “due to the current budget crisis.”
Hiring will be allowed in areas that are deemed “critical to the public safety and welfare of the state.”
The latest revenue estimates from Justice’s office predicts a $497 million shortfall in the 2018 fiscal year.
Lawmakers are also attempting to fill a $123 million shortfall in the 2017 fiscal year that ends June 30.
Justice has been highly critical of lawmakers for not sharing a budget plan at the halfway point of the Legislative Session, but Republican leaders say lawmakers have never put out a budget before the end of the session because they are still considering bills that have financial implications for the state.
One of the first bills introduced on behalf of Governor Jim Justice is one aimed at organizing the number of state-owned vehicles. The governor’s version of this bill, House Bill 2492, was introduced in the House of Delegates last week and referred to the committee on Government Organization. But lawmakers in that committee took up a different yet similar bill drafted by members in the House.
Members in the House Government Organization Committee took up a single bill Wednesday morning; House Bill 2004 – to create and maintain a centralized state vehicle inventory system. Under the bill, the data and information regarding state vehicles would be housed in the current Fleet Management Office and would distinguish state, county, and city vehicles with different color plates, much like the system West Virginia has in place today. The problem is that system hasn’t been working the way it’s intended to.
In fact, according to the Legislative Auditor’s Office, the number of state vehicles ranges anywhere between 7,600 to 12,600. Green license plates are how state vehicles are identified, but the problem is organizations that are considered quasi-state agencies, such as community senior centers or public service districts, also get green plates even though the state doesn’t technically own them.
“When the state can’t answer a question of a $200 million plus asset, how much is actually there, we got a problem,” said House Government Organization Chair Del. Gary Howell, R-Mineral, “so we started looking into it. And for the past, roughly ten months, we’ve been working on this with Fleet, DMV, and BRIM trying to come up with a solution.”
Howell is the lead sponsor of House Bill 2004. He says he and other members have also worked closely with the governor’s office in drafting his version of the bill. He says the state hasn’t been tracking the vehicles very closely and considering the state’s budget crisis, Howell says reorganizing the system, or essentially starting the count from scratch, will help.
“It won’t help the budget this year, but next year, once we get a number, we’re gonna be able to look at this and say, here’s some serious cost savings,” he noted, “I expect to save tens of millions of dollars in subsequent years by getting control of the fleet.”
Bob Ashley, who was previously a member of both the House of Delegates and state Senate, is now the governor’s legislative director. He says having so many quasi-state agencies with green-plated vehicles, has posed a real problem that he says is addressed in another version of the bill presented by the governor. That bill would also create a new vehicle registry and change the plates issued to non-state agencies.
“If you’re a state vehicle, you’re a green and white license, if you’re a quasi-state vehicle, you’re a black and white license, and the people will know the difference on the road,” Ashley said.
The two versions of the bill, from Del. Howell and from Gov. Justice, are very similar, but the committee voted to advance the Legislature’s version of the bill.
Ashley says creating a reliable tracking system for state vehicles will save West Virginia taxpayers’ money.
“We’re gonna run it more efficiently,” he said, “The vehicles, Fleet Management will keep an eye, and they do, but they will have an increased look at the gasoline, the usage, the wear-and-tear, when the vehicle’s been serviced; they will also have a better maintenance program for all the vehicles. It is really tightening up to make certain, for the taxpayer, that what vehicles are owned by the state will in fact be taken care of and recognized by the state.”
Five bills have been introduced on the governor’s behalf so far this session, but Ashley says a total of 29 are expected.
Two more state agencies in West Virginia say they are reducing their fleets of vehicles to save money.
The Division of Highways says it will auction off 122 vehicles in May and October and optimize use of those remaining.
The Division of Corrections says it’s cutting 45 vehicles, which will save taxpayers about $60,000 a year, while replacing older ones after five years or 120,000 miles driven instead of four years and 100,000 miles.
The prison agency says it’s also reducing the number assigned to individuals
The commissioner, deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner for operations and the directors of safety and investigations will no longer have their own state vehicles.
The governor’s office and Department of Environmental Protection previously announced cuts.
West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection says it’s following the lead of new Gov. Jim Justice and reducing the number of state vehicles its personnel drive.
The department says it will eliminate 35 vehicles, which represent half of its current total of pool vehicles and 9 percent of its overall fleet.
Secretary Austin Caperton, chosen by Justice to lead the agency responsible for licensing mining and drilling and protecting the environment, says Justice “laid out clear direction to reduce costs wherever possible.”
He says the department is no exception.
A 65-year-old coal magnate elected as a Democrat in his first run for statewide office, Justice followed two-term Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.
