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Audit: El Paso updates vehicle allowance policy but lacks citywide take‑home vehicle program
Summary
Internal audit accepted Sept. 11 found the City of El Paso updated its vehicle allowance policy March 13, 2025; auditors found no employees receiving both a vehicle allowance and a take‑home car but recommended a citywide take‑home vehicle policy and clearer documentation of prior audit follow‑up.
City auditors told the Financial Oversight and Audit Committee Sept. 11 that the City of El Paso updated its vehicle allowance policy on March 13, 2025, added positions and budget‑resolution language that were previously omitted, and did not identify any employees receiving both a vehicle allowance and an assigned take‑home car.
Miguel (internal audit) presented the results of the vehicle allowance and take‑home cars project (P2025‑02). The audit reviewed fiscal 2024–2025 listings and noted 93 vehicle allowance recipients in the initial review. Auditors confirmed in this follow‑up that no employee was both receiving a vehicle allowance and assigned a take‑home car at the same time.
The audit’s principal recommended improvement was procedural: the city does not have a single, citywide policy for the assignment and monitoring of take‑home vehicles. Audit staff recommended that city management decide whether to create a citywide policy or continue department‑level self‑management with standard minimums. Mary Wiggins, chief human resources officer, told the committee that Human Resources will create a citywide take‑home vehicle policy that outlines assignment rules, permitted and prohibited uses, tax treatment for the employee benefit and the expectation that departments maintain written assignment processes.
Representative Charles and other committee members said the audit report should make clearer that this presentation was a follow‑up to a July 2024 audit and should state the dates when corrective actions were implemented. Representative Chavez asked for a guaranteed date for the new take‑home policy; the committee’s motion that accepted the audit results specifically asked management to “clearly state when the new policy will be in place.” The motion passed 3‑0.
Committee members also asked whether take‑home vehicles include GPS — Wiggins said some vehicles have GPS but not all — and whether vehicle‑use monitoring and enforcement would be standardized across departments; Wiggins said departments will retain assignment authority but must create written processes to conform to the citywide policy. The committee requested that the written timeline for implementing the take‑home policy be provided to the committee and included in the audit file.
The item carried a motion to accept the audit results incorporating the committee’s feedback; the motion passed 3‑0.
