By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — Amid increasing criticism from the City Council on the issue, Mayor Susan D. Menard slashed the number of employees allowed to drive city-owned vehicles home after work on gasoline nudging the $4 a gallon mark.

In a citywide memo issued several days ago, Menard pared the list of employees allowed to drive city-owned vehicles home to just seven, including herself. Previously, more than 20 employees, mostly in the fire, public works and planning departments, had been allowed to take home vehicles.
Beyond the mayor, the only remaining employees with take-home vehicle privileges are Fire Chief Kenneth Finlay, Acting Police Chief Eric Croce, Highway Supt. Bernard Harnois, Administration/ Public Works Director Michael Annarummo, Emergency Management/Personnel Director Owen Bebeau and a rotating night watchman.
The city is limiting the privilege of taking home a vehicle to top-tier managers who are on 24-hour call for emergencies, public safety and security personnel, officials said.
While City Council President Leo T. Fontaine said the mayor was reacting to recent criticism from council members about lax oversight on the use of motor vehicles,
Menard said she had slowly been reducing the number of vehicles employees are allowed to take home as gas prices rose.
“I started with this as we were watching gas prices escalate,” the mayor said. “When I heard the other day that gas could be up to $5 or $6 by the end of the summer, I came up with a plan to limit the use of vehicles.”
But Fontaine said the timing of the crackdown was telling. He said the initiative to cut back on motor vehicle use was the council’s idea, and that Menard’s actions came only after criticism about the widespread use of take-home motor vehicles was leveled against the mayor publicly by Councilman John Ward.
“This has certainly been a concern for some time and I’m happy she’s following the council’s lead,” said Fontaine.
One thing both sides agree on is that the rollback is designed to save money, but Finance Director Robert Strom says that with no ceiling in sight for skyrocketing gasoline prices, the city could still outspend beefed-up allotments for gasoline included in the proposed fiscal year 2009 budget.
 Strom says he has heard reputable economists interviewed on TV news programs say it’s not inconceivable that gasoline could level off at more than $10 a gallon. If that happens, he said, “It doesn’t matter how many cars we park. Just while the vehicle is in use, the cost to the city is going to be astronomical.”
With the price of gasoline in ever-rising flux, Strom said he wouldn’t venture a guess as to how much Menard’s cutback on take-home cars will save.
But Strom said that in view of rising prices, the city has proposed a combined increase of approximately 24 percent in department gasoline budgets. That translates to an additional $80,000 over current spending, or about $410,000 for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. If the new policy on motor vehicle use helps the city stay within that budget, Strom said, he would consider that a positive development.
Meanwhile, Administration Director Annarummo said the program will undoubtedly save some money in gasoline, but he said there might be problems with limiting the use of motor vehicles that could wipe out any efficiencies, or even end up costing the city money. Specifically, Annarummo said, it could take longer for on-call employees to respond to emergencies if they do not have prompt access to a city-owned vehicle.
With gasoline hovering at $4 a gallon, the likelihood of employees responding directly to emergencies in their own vehicles is slim, according to Annarummo. Inevitably, said Annarummo, they will detour to pick up their city-owned vehicles first.
How significant the lag time is depends on the nature of the emergency, said Annarummo. In a rare case, Annarummo said, the delay could end up being quite costly. For example, he said, if city workers had delayed in responding to a weekend water main break that flooded the commercial district on Diamond Hill Road last winter just a short time, the problem would have been far more complicated and costly to resolve.
“I don’t think you’re going to get the same responsiveness,” said Annarummo. “I think that’s just human nature.”
Menard agreed that there might be a somewhat slower response time in some cases, but she said the key city employees involved in public safety still have 24-hours access to their vehicles.
“I’m sure there are going to be some instances when it’s going to take a little longer, but people who need 24-hour access to vehicles are still going to have it.”