The state-owned cars in question are controlled by the Executive Branch, which includes elected state offices, state police, the governor and his cabinet.  Those cars are meant for state business only.  "If you are assigned a state car you can use it as you need," said Chuck Ardo, Chief Spokesman for Governor Ed Rendell. "The people who are assigned those cars are constantly on call."  Ardo estimated the Rendell Administration controls 325 such vehicles.

Taxpayers weren't happy to hear some of the cars may be driven for personal use too.  "Gas keeps going up and they're just using if for personal instead of business," Ruth Kunsman of Harrisburg told abc27 News.  "I'm working two jobs just to go back and forth to work and most of it's going for gas."  "I pay for my own vehicle," said Doug Dove of Grantville.  "I pay for my own gas and maintenance to keep it on the road.  So why should they be different than anyone else?"

Republican leaders in the State Senate are asking some of those same questions.  "There shouldn't be taxpayer provided vehicles given to employees simply as a fringe benefit for their personal use," said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi.  "When they're not required to travel long distances on a regular basis for state business."  Pileggi has asked the State Auditor General's Office to take a closer look at how Executive Branch employees use their state-owned cars.  There are about 3600 vehicles in all, at an annual cost to taxpayers of an estimated $15-million dollars. 

A government watchdog group agreed and called such a review a positive development for taxpayers.  "There's a tendency for benefits to creep upward and outward," said Barry Kauffman, Executive Director of Common Cause of Pennsylvania.  "You just need to do that on a regular basis to determine what levels are appropriate and who is appropriate to receive them." 

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said the Governor invites the scrutiny.  "We have nothing to hide and anybody who wants to take a look is welcome to do that," said Ardo.  "Do the vast majority of people who get state cars use them responsibly?  Absolutely." 

A spokesman for Auditor General Jack Wagner told abc27 News they're still deciding whether to conduct the audit, but he called it a near certainty.  Senator Pileggi said he would like to have Wagner's report by early June when budget talks heat up and lawmakers look for ways to trim state spending.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

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