Brakes hit on fleets as gas prices soar

Employees trade in gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The mayor of Rochester, N.Y., is turning in his city-issued sport utility vehicle and buying a smaller car he can take to ribbon-cuttings, parades and budget meetings.

Deputy sheriffs in six central Ohio villages are getting around on golf carts and a three-wheel scooter.

And in Austin, Texas, city employees are attending seminars to learn how to reduce fuel consumption, whether it means avoiding engine-idling or maintaining proper tire pressure.

States, counties and cities struggling to absorb $4-a-gallon gasoline at a time of widening budget problems are employing various energy-saving tactics: limiting the use of take-home work vehicles, converting to alternative-fuel cars and trucks and, in some cases, experimenting with a four-day workweek.

A recent survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors showed nearly a quarter of the nation’s mayors have cut services this year to make up for higher fuel costs. Budget shortfalls this year range from $15.2 billion in the state of California to $24 million in Rochester, a city of 208,000 near Lake Ontario.

Federal, state and local government vehicles consumed 2.18 billion gallons of gasoline in 2006, according to the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration.

Public works directors, parking-meter inspectors and fire officials are swapping gas guzzlers for a new generation of lighter, sleeker vehicles. In the nation’s capital, where he once relied on a lumbering Lincoln Navigator, Mayor Adrian Fenty now drives a two-seat Smart car that gets 33 to 41 mph.

A former police chief in Rochester, Mayor Robert Duffy has always traveled without a bodyguard — “I’m an entourage of one” — but now he’s giving up the city-issued SUV, too, and leasing a new GMC crossover of his own. It’s a symbolic step in the city’s effort to reduce its fleet of 667 passenger cars.

“It’ll be easier for me to make decisions on other cars if I’m stepping away from mine,” Duffy said.

Rochester has already cut its passenger cars by 74 since 2007, and the mayor aims to remove up to 80 percent of the 174 vehicles assigned to employees around the clock.

“We’re examining a number of hybrids and electric vehicles,” Duffy said. “If the city must provide a vehicle, it’s going to be the most cost-effective, cost-efficient model possible.”

Despite the steps being taken, Rochester’s projected fuel bill through next June will swell by $1.2 million to $5.2 million, up from $2.4 million when Duffy was elected as mayor three years ago.

“This is an expense the city can no longer afford,” Duffy said.