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DOT defends higher fleet budget, cites vehicle price jumps and fuel/insurance pressure
Summary
Deputy director Robin Reberg told the committee the state fleet covers about 3,500 vehicles and the department is seeking additional replacement and operating authority to cover higher new‑vehicle prices, rising fuel and insurance costs and lower auction proceeds for used vehicles.
Robin Reberg, deputy director for driver safety and state fleet functions at the North Dakota Department of Transportation, told the House Appropriations Government Operations Division the agency manages just over 3,500 vehicles and that purchase prices and operating costs rose sharply during the pandemic years.
Reberg described three components of fleet rental rates: an operating component (fuel, parts, labor, commercial repair, shop overhead and insurance), a depreciation component (purchase price allocated over the vehicle’s service life) and a replacement component (to recover the gap between rising new‑vehicle prices and auction proceeds). She said the department uses a fixed‑price fuel contract for its 13 state fueling sites and that fuel projections used for budget guidance were $3.85 per gallon for unleaded and $4.40 per gallon for diesel over a three‑year horizon.
“State Fleet is operated as an internal service fund, which means it's revenue neutral,” Reberg said, describing how rental rates collected from agencies pay for vehicle purchases, maintenance and resale. She told legislators the department used a 4% inflation factor for commercial labor and 5% for parts when setting fleet budget guidelines and that the department reviews rates quarterly.
On replacements, the agency asked for roughly $17.5 million in the executive budget to address the increased cost of new vehicles; lawmakers on the Senate side reduced that request (Senate action lowered the amount to about $12.5 million). Reberg said auction proceeds for used heavy‑duty pickups fell from about $25,000 average in 2021 to roughly $18,700 in 2024, widening the gap the replacement component must cover.
Committee members asked for a detailed breakout of operating cost components (fuel gallons used, insurance, parts and shop labor trends) so the panel could evaluate a Senate cut of $5 million to the department’s requested fleet operating increase. Reberg agreed to provide those figures and the department’s detailed assumptions.
