That is the title of a discussion item on the agenda for the upcoming April 11, 2018 BOCC meeting.
Ahead of that meeting, if you are interested in reviewing county documents pertinent to the discussion, please study these two documents:
Elbert County Vehicles List (Click for Report)
and Elbert County Employees Salaries List (Click for Report)
In my view, an assessment of the appropriateness of the vehicle count must also take into account the number of employees, as well as other factors such as number of county roadway miles. The two documents provide only a partial picture, but hopefully, the presentations on April 11, from the county public works director and the undersheriff will shed more light on some of the county assets paid for largely with taxpayer dollars.
Some high level numbers from these documents include:
Breakdown of vehicles by department:
I am curious about the numbers that show that there are 46 employees in R&B and 29 pick-up trucks, 9 Semis, and 4 service trucks. Of the 46 employees, there are 19 road grader operators for 26 road graders and 14 truck drivers for 42 trucks. The county graders are all relatively new. Each year since 2012 our tax dollars have purchased 2-6 new graders.
I am also curious about the 58 vehicles in the Sheriff’s department for the 48 department employees. Within that department, there are 50 street vehicles for about 20 street police. Those 50 street policing vehicles include 28 pick-ups, 8 SUVs, and 13 sedans.
I hope these documents shed a little light on where some of your tax dollars are going. Please email any questions to TruthColorado and/or your county commissioners.
Susan Shick
Elbert County Resident