Council questions leasing costs, delayed returns as fleet audit flags losses

Council members raised repeated concerns about the city’s vehicle fleet management after staff presented a progress update on a fleet inventory and maintenance program at the Aug. 19 meeting.

Administration described an ongoing effort to upload vehicle data (ownership, lease status, ages and maintenance history) into a fleet-management system and said some leased vehicles had been repurposed because initial purchases did not match operational needs. Council members pressed for specifics on a prior motion to return at least 20 vehicles and asked whether those vehicles had actually been returned or were still in service; staff said some leased vehicles were returned as leases expired but that the records were still being reconciled.

Several councilors expressed alarm about lease liability and potential costs to break leases early; one councilor called the situation “like a Ponzi scheme” and asked whether state oversight (attorney general or comptroller) should review municipal leasing practices. Staff said the auditors would examine irregularities as part of the forensic review and that more precise, dated documentation of lease expirations and returns was forthcoming. The manager said the fleet is being right-sized and that incorrect spec purchases had been rotated into administrative use where feasible.

Outcome: discussion only; council requested a detailed, dated inventory showing lease status, expiration dates, vehicles returned to lessors, auctioned vehicles and a reconciliation of lease-related liabilities.

What’s next: administration to produce a dated fleet-status report and a reconciliation of leased versus owned vehicles and to provide it to council; auditors will continue review of lease transactions identified in the forensic audit.