Alabama pays 14 workers more for mileage than cost of a car
In Fiscal Year 2015, Alabama paid 14 individuals enough in-state mileage reimbursement to literally buy each of them a new car.
Nobody pays much attention to the details of Alabama’s finances. Even the most politically engaged talk in broad strokes. We wax poetic about the General Fund and the Education Trust Fund. When pressed, we’ll talk about the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, Medicaid or Corrections. But beyond that, the details start to fade. All the spending information is available online but, truthfully, the sheer volume is intimidating.
Reviewing the state’s ammo purchases got me thinking. Does the state have any other spending practices that should raise eyebrows?
Did you know that Alabama paid out almost $21 million for in-state mileage reimbursements in 2015? As a point of reference, that amount is more than the state government’s postage bill for the entire year and about half of the state’s annual electricity bill.
While most of the major mileage expenditures were to county health departments, 14 individuals cleared between $20,000 and $30,000 in mileage reimbursements for their in-state travel. Many are inspectors or other state employees where significant travel is simply part of the job. Let’s just assume for the sake of argument that every mile reimbursed in 2015 was a necessary business expense incurred by the State of Alabama.
Could we perhaps get a better deal?
For example, $25,000 in mileage reimbursement translates to about 44,000 miles traveled at 57 cents per mile.
I checked out Enterprise, because I’ve heard they’ll pick you up.
A Toyota Corolla with unlimited miles picked up in Montgomery would cost me $743.32 per month without any discounts. That translates to $8,919.84 per year. Think about that for a minute. Alabama reimbursed one individual $27,719.41 in 2015. Simply renting at the individual retail rate could have saved the state almost 70 percent.
The truth is that the state could save considerably more by negotiating a volume rate, reducing administrative time and expenses related to tracking mileage and avoiding the costly overhead of actually owning yet another vehicle.
What do these precise reforms really mean? Imagine the state only saved 25 percent on its in-state mileage. We’ve heard repeatedly about public schools without the funds to buy enough toilet paper to last the year. Think we could fix that with $5 million?
The devil is in the details when it comes to state spending, and it’s relatively easy to see areas like mileage policies where small changes could turn into big savings. But it’s $5 million here, $3 million there, and smaller savings that help ease budget pressures. They’re about as sexy as a pair of old sweats, but do they make a difference? You bet.
