CLEVELAND – Cuyahoga County has a new vehicle policy that requires County employees to pay for their own parking and traffic tickets. County Executive Ed FitzGerald championed this change and is implementing other efforts to cut fleet-related costs.

According to a news release from FitzGerald’s office, the County found it paid $22,240 to the City of Cleveland to cover the cost of tickets received up by unidentified county drivers between 2000 and 2010. The lack of record-keeping contributed to these costs.

The County’s new vehicle policy directs supervisors to keep logs to track when employees are using vehicles assigned to their department or division. If an employee responsible for a ticket can’t be identified, the supervisor will be held responsible for the cost.

Other changes to County vehicle use include a reduction in the number of take-home vehicles from 23 to 8, excluding sheriff’s department vehicles, and an upcoming auction of at least 26 vehicles.