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Weber County weighs policy change after staff find non-law-enforcement employees taking vehicles home
Summary
Staff told commissioners 11 non-public-safety employees regularly take county vehicles home; IRS rules make that a taxable benefit and the county is considering position-based requirements or reporting the value on employees' W-2s.
County staff reported to Weber County commissioners that 11 non-law-enforcement employees were taking county vehicles home for commute or on-call purposes and that federal tax rules treat that practice as a taxable fringe benefit unless the employer requires the car for a bona fide business reason.
Scott Park and Sean Wilkinson explained that unless the county requires an employee to take a vehicle home for a defined business need, the IRS requires the county to report a standard valuation as taxable income on the employee's W-2. "The only exception to this is if we require an employee to take a vehicle home, not permit, but require them to take a county vehicle home for a bonafide noncompensatory reason," Park said. Absent that requirement, staff said the commuting valuation of about $0.70 per mile applies; if the county can document a required commuter assignment, the commuter valuation rule (about $1.50 each way) would apply and reduce employee tax impact.
Commissioners and staff discussed options: prohibit nonessential take-home use, require take-home for defined on-call positions with documented business need, or permit voluntary take-home use and report the taxable value on employees' W-2s. Commissioner Ford favored offering an option: "They can either report it and pay income tax, or they can make other arrangements to leave the car here," Ford said. Commissioner Furr also supported an option-based approach and suggested notifying affected employees in advance.
Staff and union/employee considerations surfaced in the discussion. Sean Wilkinson said the overall payroll-tax cost to the county would be modest for those positions that can be documented as required: using the commuter valuation would create a small tax impact (staff estimated about $11 per month for an example employee) rather than the larger voluntary-commuter calculation for a longer commute.
County staff proposed to compile a list of positions that legitimately require take-home vehicles for bona fide business reasons (examples discussed included roads, engineering, building inspection, and 24-hour emergency response positions). Commissioners directed staff to base any requirement on position rather than individual employee preference; the county will notify affected employees whether their position qualifies and, for those who do not qualify, offer the choice of returning the vehicle to county parking or having the taxable benefit reported on their W-2.
No formal vote was recorded; commissioners asked staff to return with a position-based list and the formal policy language needed to implement either requirement or voluntary reporting.
