The Metro department responsible for maintaining buildings, tuning cars and securing entrances is curtailing services at all levels. The Department of General Services is also cutting four hundred vehicles against the wishes of some Council members.
The Department of General Services is losing over $7 million from its budget—three million of which is coming from city vehicles. Those are police cruisers, fire department cars and even some lawnmowers in the sheriff’s office.
Councilman Michael Craddock says getting rid of the vehicles is a waste of money.
“I think it’s absolutely nuts for us to get rid of all of these vehicles. They’re bought and paid for. You know, when the economy turns around, we’ll go and buy more vehicles to replace what we sold for nothing.”
But Craddock has been critical of expensive lawnmowers that cost over $3,000 to maintain every year. He’s also says if vehicles should be cut, it should be the take-home cars of upper management. 8 of the Police Department’s top officials drive take home cars. Craddock says they should lose their cars before police officers do.
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