According to the 2009 Act 47 report for Pittsburgh, the City has a fleet of 940 vehicles and related pieces of equipment. A quick look at data in the most recent County CAFR shows a similar count (934) for Allegheny County. Both currently contract vehicle maintenance to a private contractor under separate contracts and could be under one contract in the coming months, possibly by August 1st according to a County spokesperson.
By doing so the hope is that the savings for taxpayers will be even greater in scale, and it would maintain a non-core service of both the City and the County with a private operator.
The City’s Act 47 report points out that, even with the contractor agreeing to abide by the collective bargaining agreement that the City had with in-house employees, "vehicle maintenance costs were approximately $400k lower in FY2007 than in FY2003".
With the possibility of such savings and improved performance by the respective vehicle fleet of each governing body, this is a joint effort that should be pursued with vigor.
