With the revelation that the Tauranga City Councils fleet of vehicles comprises of 51 cars and that 47 of these are taken home by staff daily that seems to indicate that vehicles are basically a part of the job description and this should not be the case.
However the Mayor has recently decided, for some reason or another, that he will forego his ratepayer provided vehicle and the stated saving are said to be $14k pa, accordingly working on this figure, if the Council was to forego 35 vehicles the potential savings could be $490k pa being 35 times $14,000.
I have always wondered as to why the Council requires such a large number of vehicles in its fleet as surely 20 should suffice with all being in a pool system and ordered by staff as required.
The statement that by taking them home saves overnight parking costs is in my view just a red herring as I understand that the majority of the vehicles are parked during the day in the garage areas of the Kingsview Towers and I also wonder at what cost?
The majority of current Councillors seem to be oblivious of the increasing costs that ratepayers face and seem so reluctant to make any hard decisions.

Mike Baker, Bethlehem.