Some towns reuse retired police cruisers and other vehicles as take-home cars, but others, such as Ashland and Franklin, said repair bills and the cost of converting cars for civilian use can be high.
"They're just not cost-efficient," Franklin Town Administrator Jeff Nutting said.
Towns otherwise often buy vehicles through a state bidding process or at auction, including at Adesa in Framingham.
In Franklin, Nutting said he has phased out several take-home vehicles as employees with that benefit retired or otherwise left the town payroll.
"Some of those jobs we never filled, or as (new) people come in, they have to bring their own vehicle back and forth for work," Nutting said.
The town plans to cut two more next fiscal year, when the town engineer and deputy public works director are expected to retire.
But there are few cases left where take-home vehicles could be eliminated, Nutting said, echoing many managers who saw most arrangements as necessary.
"I'm running out of folks to scale back on at this point," he said.Read more: How many public employees take their work car home?
More about Sunshine Week - a national initiative to highlight open government, freedom of information, and transparency can be found here.
Franklin's vehicle listing as of June 2010 can be found here. (I'll get an update this week.)
Franklin, MA
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