HILO, Hawai'i — Hawai'i County employees allowed to bring county vehicles home at the end of their shifts may soon lose that privilege.

Some Public Works Department employees who had this luxury already lost it this week.

Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong submitted a letter to Mayor Billy Kenoi on Friday stating that 107 county vehicles are available to county employees who are allowed to take them home.

Yagong acknowledged there may be circumstances that require employees to take home the cars, but wrote that most would "be able to operate efficiently without the luxury of taking home a county-owned vehicle."

"During these very difficult economic times we can no longer afford this added expense and it is my strong recommendation that the practice of allowing vehicles to be taken home be eliminated immediately," he wrote.

Yagong indicated that if the action requires council action he would be "happy" to prepare legislation.

Kenoi was unavailable for comment Friday.

According to information from Finance Director Nancy Crawford, of the 107 vehicles being taken home by employees, 46 are in the Parks and Recreation Department. Clayton Honma, the department's deputy director, said Friday that 36 of the 46 vehicles are being taken home at night, but that the department plans to look into paring that number to help save gasoline costs, as well as wear and tear on vehicles.

Crawford's list also includes 22 vehicles for the Public Works Department, but the number was much higher before last Sunday.

There were 55 vehicles being taken home by Public Works employees until March 8, when department director Warren Lee reduced that number to help save money.

Public Works spokeswoman Noelani Whittington was one who recently lost that privilege, and has since been taking a Hele-On bus daily from Volcano Village to her Hilo office.

She said those who may take home county vehicles are employees who are on call 24 hours a day to make highway and traffic-related repairs. Some employees also are on call in the event of an emergency such as a brush fire or heavy rains to coordinate Public Works support services for the Civil Defense Agency, Whittington said.

Four employees with the Office of Housing and Community Development are allowed to take vehicles home, but director Steve Arnett said Friday he has no comment on Yagong's request. "That's up to the mayor," Arnett said.

The Environmental Management Department has 13 vehicles assigned to employees, but department Director Lono Tyson and Solid Waste Division Chief Mike Dworsky were unavailable for comment Friday.

Other departments and agencies, as well as the number of vehicles they have assigned to employees, include the Fire Department (13); Civil Defense Agency (5); Human Resources Department (2); Risk Management (1); the Mass Transit Agency (1); and the mayor's office (1).

Crawford said it would be too difficult to determine how much money the county would save in gasoline costs by reducing vehicle use.

Yagong said Friday the county could probably lower the number of take-home cars to 20 and still operate efficiently.

Crawford said the county policy for vehicles prohibits employees from driving them for personal use. Employees are allowed to stop at a grocery store or pick up their children on their way home, but are otherwise forbidden from using county vehicles for nonwork reasons.