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Staff Photo by Angela Lewis/Chattanooga Times Free Press Officer Keven Flanagan puts gas into a patrol car Tuesday at the Police Services Center.
Like an annoying fly, the issue of take-home cars for Chattanooga employees — especially police officers — has been buzzing around the heads of city officials for about two years.
And, like the aggravating insect, swatting at it hasn’t made it go away.
Debate has ranged from adding take-home cars to the fleet to getting rid of the take-home cars altogether to charging employees for using them.
The Chattanooga City Council recently requested that the mayor’s office and finance department study a recurring or mileage-based user fee for city employees who use take-home cars.
City Chief Finance Officer Daisy Madison confirmed that the council made the request last week, but said she had not yet met with other city officials to begin crafting the fee solutions.
Councilman Jack Benson, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee, said he sees the benefit of having take-home cars — quicker response times, police on the street longer and able to assist when needed.
But the cost is prohibitive, he said, especially for those officers who don’t live within the city and don’t pay city taxes. That’s why there should be a tiered structure either based on mileage or residence, he said.
And, with the budget cuts in recent years, “I think a lot of (police) know that this has been coming on,” Mr. Benson said.
Ms. Madison said take-home car usage costs the city about $800,000 annually.
An earlier proposal from the council was to charge $50 every two weeks to employees who live within the city and use take-home cars and $75 for those who live outside city limits. That proposal has not been studied and there are other options available, none of which have been finalized, Ms. Madison said. During budget discussions this year, council members and the mayor discussed eliminating take-home cars again, but ultimately dropped the idea.
At least one police union leader is unhappy with the proposal to add tiered fees, but also doesn’t want the alternative.
“If we have to pay a little bit, it’s better than having to lose it completely,” said Chattanooga police Detective Phil Grubb, president of the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers.
As proof of the value to take-home cars, he cited recent arrests in North Chattanooga robberies and burglaries that were aided by take-home cars.
The detective also questioned previous estimates on the cost savings of stopping the program, noting that the mileage rates suggested by the city are far higher than those used by private businesses.
Take-home cars have been hotly debated between some council members and police union leaders since last year when, during budget discussions, Mayor Ron Littlefield suggested the $50 fee with an additional $25 fee for employees who use city cars to drive to part-time jobs.
One of Mr. Littlefield’s pushes during his first campaign in 2005 was to provide take-home cars to all police officers, an initiative he enacted in 2008. Previously, officers earned the cars after three years of service and a number of points accumulated through seniority and job description, according to newspaper archives.
During a budget crunch in 2009 — which led to Mr. Littlefield’s $50 fee proposal — the City Council considered banning all employees from using city-owned cars when they weren’t at work. But after a great deal of pushback from the police department, the council pulled $400,000 from traffic camera fine revenue to continue to fund take-home cars.
Click here to vote in our daily poll: Should police officers pay a fee for take-home cars?
Todd South covers courts and the military for the Times Free Press. He has worked at the paper for three years and previously covered crime and safety in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia. Todd’s hometown is Dodge City, Kan. He served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq before returning to school for his journalism degree from the University of Georgia. Todd previously worked at the Anniston (Ala.) Star. Contact Todd ...
This is absoultely inappropriate! Why in the world does Littlefield get so much joy out of picking on police officers. They are the ones that are protecting "his city" and ours. First of all, their cars are part of their job! To be able to take it home should be a benefit since Littlefield doesn't give them any other benefits and pays them next to nothing! Let me speak from experience...police officers do not make enough to provide for their own families and now they are going to have to pay to drive their cop cars? hmmm.... Ok. If Littlefield is too ingnorant to find another solution to his money problem let me help. One, quit paying millions on stupid art statues downtown. Two, why don't we lessen his over the top salary?? I'm sure he actually makes enough to pay his bills. Sorry for the harsh words, but more people need to speak up about the unfairness of making these life risking officers pay for doing their job!
WE ARE ALL GOING TO HAVE TO COME TOGETHER AND WORK OUT OUR CITY'S BUDGET PROBLEM.POLITICIANS ARE NOT GOING TO.$800,000 DOLLARS A YEAR TO PAY FOR TAKE HOME CAR USAGE SEEMS MIGHTY HIGH TO ME.WE CAN SAVE 1,000,000.00 DOLLARS BY ELIMINATING TAKE HOME CARS AND THE MAYOR'S OFFICE.LOL
I'm sorry. I don't understand your comment or the point you are making. I think you must have left out a word or two.
And yes, I would almost agree with you on the removal of the mayor's office. At least we could remove some of his $146,000 that he's making a year. I wonder if Littlefield has proposed that? No... I guess he's too busy taking away other people's money.
If they were only using the cars for back and forth to work, with no charges for verifiable off duty assists, I would have no problem with it.
Through the years I've seen police cars used for vacation trips, shopping mall trips, off duty night club and strip club visits, church visits, picnic fun, joy rides and etc. The abuses continue in Chattanooga and across the nation.
A beginning and end of shift mileage check, with a deterrent charge for the mileage over the distance from back and forth between station and home. That should keep them honest.
As of current, police officers only use their cars to and from work. They are allowed to stop (run errands) on the way to and from work if it is in route. So, as far as Chattanooga is concerned, the officers do not abuse their cars.
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