The Sunflower County Board of Supervisors has been discussing adding to its existing vehicle policy for several meetings.
Monday’s discussion trailed off into several directions, resulting in heated debate at times.
In particular, the board addressed the trucks that were purchased this year, by way of board order, for Supervisors Glenn Donald and Anthony Clark. Some county employees are currently allowed to take vehicles home.
“It’s costing the taxpayers the money for the gas that is driven and coming to work,” said District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson.
Donald told the board that he had checked into the state and IRS policies for having the fringe benefit, and he said speaking for himself that he does not use his vehicle for personal trips.
“I have checked with
Coahoma County I asked the guy, he said, ‘yes, we have been through this.’ Say, for instance, if I went on vacation in my truck, I have to document the miles on it before I left and come back. There is a renter’s fee charge. You pay what they call rent a mile,” Donald said.
Gaston said, “You cannot do that.”
Dickerson told Donald that the only thing he had to do was document where he had been and write his mileage down.
Donald said, “Whenever I leave home to check my roads, I am on my job once I get within the truck.”
Gaston said, “I want it all out there to the taxpayers of this county.”
Dickerson said, “In the past, we didn’t have as many people driving trucks that we now have, I know, two in maintenance and preventive maintenance that have a truck. We are up to about eight to nine trucks besides the Sheriff’s Department and Emergency Management.”
Dickerson explained that the law says if someone takes a vehicle home, that is a taxable fringe benefit.
“You have to pay taxes on the vehicle and there is a formula that will help you figure out how much taxes you have to pay,” Dickerson said. “Now you can take it home as long as you document that it is for business use. And if you are using it for business use there is a mileage log that you need to fill out.”
Dickerson followed up by explaining to the board the mileage log and how it is to be used.
“The mileage log you have to tell the number of miles from when you leave and return,” she said. “You should tell the purpose of that trip and how many miles you drove that day. Because at the end of the month, you have driven 1,000 miles and you have only documented 500, then 500 is assumed to be personal miles of the personal miles that are a fringe benefit, and you have to pay taxes to the IRS for that.”
Dickerson told the board that they do not have a policy in place that tells how vehicles will be and should be used.
“Maybe in the past, only two or three people had a vehicle,” she said. “We have gotten to the point where eight or nine vehicles that we have bought, these people are taxed with fringe benefits because they are not documenting that they are for business. They have to be used for business use, or it’s a raise that’s what it is.”
Dickerson let the board know that an independent auditor did point out to her that if documentations about miles on county vehicles aren’t kept, that will be an issue the county will have to handle.
“When the IRS comes in, it will be on Sunflower County for not doing the right thing and putting this on their W-2s as a taxable benefit,” she said. “It’s the law, and we are not in compliance. I have already checked with the independent auditors, and we checked with another CPA to make sure we were reading everything correctly.”
Donald asked, “If I get in my vehicle, and drive it to the shop, what is that?”
Dickerson said, “That is commuting.”
Donald said, “I can go to the shop when I get ready.”
Dickerson said, “Well, that is personal. Business is when you are out there on a road.”
Donald said to Dickerson, “I’d like to see you tell someone that isn’t business if I go to the shop to request something or ask something. So, I have to wait until the next board meeting to request something?”
Gaston said, “You have your phone.”
Donald said, “And I have sense to, and I don’t need neither one of you all telling me what to do.”
Dickerson said, “If you are not documenting your business miles, in effect, you have given yourself a raise. So, you need to document your business miles so that we would know it was used for business.”
Dickerson read the policy to the board. It said, “The maintenance director may not take his vehicle home, and he must park it at the barn.”
She informed the board that at the time the policy was created, the road manager and law enforcement were probably the only county employees with vehicles.
“We have even had maintenance workers with brand-new vehicles,” Gaston said.
Donald said, “Bring the state auditor in.”
Gaston said, “Bring the state auditor in. Supervisor Donald wants to bring in the state auditor.”
Gaston suggested that Donald would not accept what other board members have to say about the issue.
Donald said, “If I am going to have a policy, I want to have a policy that is approved by the state auditor and the attorney general, not that three people on this board approved. I want to have a policy that is compliance with the state law.”
Donald said that he wants the attorney general and the state auditor to approve the policy before voting on it.
The board motioned to work on the updated policy, with Donald voting the lone nay.
