Work Truck Show: State and municipal fleet managers under a microscope

With elected officials, legislators, budget officers and governors aiming to maximize tax dollars and to become more accountable to their constituents, these officials often are turning their attention to government fleet assets and equipment. As a result, today’s public-sector fleet managers are “under a very close microscope,” according to Steve Saltzgiver of Mercury Associates Inc., a Gaithersburg, Md.-based municipal fleet management and consulting firm.  

“[Fleet managers] used to be able to hide in their organization,” Saltzgiver said. “ … But they can’t now. A lot of people are starting to figure out that fleets are worth a lot of money.”

Speaking to a large audience at the National Truck Equipment Association’s (NTEA) 2008 Work Truck Show in Atlanta, Saltzgiver explained that the scrutiny on state and municipal fleet managers isn’t just coming from elected officials and taxpayers. These days, government fleet customers are turning up the heat as well, and they’re asking fleet managers tough questions about why their internal charges are what they are and how those charges compare to external service providers.

Saltzgiver added that today’s information-rich environment only has intensified the spotlight on government fleet operations—and on just about every other public agency and department.

“There’s no way to hide your dirty laundry anymore,” Saltzgiver told GovPro.com.

According to Saltzgiver, the increased scrutiny of state and municipal fleet administrators is just one of several emerging trends in public-sector fleet management. Other trends include:

• Consolidation and centralization of municipal fleets. Many municipalities that previously had separate fleet managers for their fire, police and public works departments now have a single municipal fleet manager function.
• Customers’ intensified demands. Customers’ demands and expectations for service levels are increasing. Meanwhile, fleet managers are trying to control costs and charges to customers while maintaining service levels and even upgrading customer services. “The two objectives are often in conflict with one another,” Saltzgiver commented. 
• Mandates to reduce fleet size. In more and more states, governors and state agencies are calling on fleet managers to reduce the size of their fleets—often by a seemingly arbitrary number such as 10 percent. “It would be better to mandate a 10 percent overall reduction in fleet costs rather than a 10 percent reduction in fleet size, in my opinion,” Saltzgiver asserted. 
• Providing excellent customer service. The challenge for fleet managers, Saltzgiver explained, is balancing the needs of customers—who often desire larger and more expensive vehicles to meet their operating requirements—with fleet departments’ budget resources. “Everyone wants a Hummer, but you can only afford to give them a Kawasaki Mule,” Saltzgiver said. “It happens all the time.”

Considering the increased scrutiny that municipal fleet managers face—and factoring in rising fuel costs and legislative and executive mandates to purchase alternative fuels—Saltzgiver acknowledged that is harder than ever to be a fleet manager. He sees more and more municipal fleet managers with business degrees and even master’s degrees.

“There’s a lot more focus on being more efficient and effective,” Saltzgiver told GovPro.com.

The NTEA Work Truck Show, which is being held in conjunction with the 44th Annual NTEA Convention, runs through Feb. 28.

This is a two-part series on emerging trends and best practices in state and municipal fleet management. In Part 2, Saltzgiver details a number of strategies that municipal fleet managers are employing—and in many cases should be employing—to make their departments more efficient and effective.