The issue of excessive use of taxpayer-supported vehicles by certain elected officials and key or highly-compensated county employees is rising on the list of concerns of Park County taxpayers. With the costs of operating vehicles at a high, this additional compensation in the form of a hidden benefit escapes pubic reporting with other salary and compensation package items. A 24/7 availability of a free car, complete with free gas, free maintenance, and free insurance, can amount to many thousands of dollars in benefits.

For government employees (except for emergency law enforcement), the fringe benefit of a car for any personal and/or commuting use is a taxable benefit, according to IRS regulations and financial professionals. It represents an increase in compensation, and may constitute a constructive raise for elected officials whose compensation limits are set by the legislature and may not be increased during their terms, according to state law.

District 6 Congressional candidate Steve Ward remembers the issue clearly from his term as Arapahoe County Commissioner. "Shortly after winning the election as commissioner in '96, I called the county fleet manager and told him I would not be driving a dedicated county car. When I was sworn into office a few months later, we researched the law concerning use of employer-provided vehicles," Ward recalls. He explains that the cost and value of a car provided by an employer and used for commuting to and from work must be reported and taxed by the employer.

Ward, a Marine Colonel who has also served in city, county and state governments, said, "When the taxpayers 'buy' someone a car, then they also have the right to ask where it was driven, not just how much." He points out that someone who values privacy may not want to make personal use of a government car and turn in a required log of every	click for larger photo Senator Steve Ward in Shawnee (Photo by Park County Bulletin)
place they drive and every stop they make. The issue of using government cars was one of the three "B" words in Ward's discussions of local government. He lists these as:

" BONDS. Every city or county manager always wants to borrow more money to build something now. They want to use bond financing.
" BODIES. Every government wants to hire more people. More bodies. This is related to 'empire building' which is common to city and county managers. It needs to be resisted.
" BUICKS. Everyone working for a government thinks, for some reason, that they are entitled to a car to drive them to work. Few people in government really need a taxpayer funded car for this purpose. "

Subjecting personal and commuting use of a taxpayer car to state and federal income tax does not help the citizens of Park County, however. Even if these cars were properly reported and taxed by the county in their employment records, as required, it would not reduce the costs to the county taxpayers. It would only put more tax dollars in the coffers of the state and federal revenue agencies and the county taxpayers would still be footing the whole, very expensive bill for the full-time operation of several Suburbans and other vehicles for elected officials and key employees.