The City of Winston-Salem, N.C., plans to purchase automatic vehicle locators (AVLs) for 1,200 vehicles in its fleet. The City noted this plan in a news release regarding the passage of its FY-2013/2014 budget. The City’s goal for this program is to allow City departments to make better routing and vehicle assignment decisions, reduce fuel consumption, potentially consolidate work assignments, and improve accountability.

The City plans to spend $492,320 in FY-2013/2014 on the AVL program and estimates savings of $45,570 per year between FY-2013/2013 and FY-2018/2019 in fuel and maintenance costs. The City is funding the plan with a one-time increase in the Registered Motor Vehicle property tax related to the State of North Carolina’s new “Tag and Tax Together” collection program, which is designed to collect vehicle property taxes along with registration and renewal fees.

The City is also making a number of other investments in its fleet in FY-2013/2014, according to its passed budget. These include purchasing four side-loading refuse trucks, four automated leaf-collection trucks, and buying nine hybrid buses.