BLOOMINGTON - The city of Bloomington saves about $34,000 a year by sending city-owned vehicles home with more than 60 employees, according to a city staff report released Friday afternoon.

The report comes about three months after lengthy budget discussions in which a few aldermen raised concerns about how much the city spends on city vehicles and how many of those vehicles needed to go home with city employees after work.

One of those aldermen, Steven Purcell, Ward 7, said he wanted to see more details on how the savings were figured.

"I'm still not in favor of people taking cars home unless it is absolutely necessary," Purcell said.

The cost of employee overtime - which starts accruing when they leave their house for a call - and parking fees were cited as the primary source of savings for the city. The study was based on fuel prices of $3.50 a gallon.

City Manager Tom Hamilton said the $34,000 savings was a conservative amount.

"That is based on the direct savings from the program," he added. "There are some other overtime costs we avoid and efficiencies where we think we are saving the city more money but those cannot be calculated with certainty."

A rough guess to those secondary savings is about $56,000, Hamilton said.

Ward 3 Alderman Kevin Huette said he was glad to see the report because it finally puts the numbers together on the program.

"Like any business, we should be able to put our fingers on the costs and benefits to a program," Huette said. "In this case, it (sending cars home) looks to be a good decision."

Meanwhile, several aldermen said they were confident the program was already a money saver for the city.

"I think it's all right as long as employees are not using the cars for personal trips," Ward 5 Alderman Jim Finnegan said.

Ward 1 Alderman Allen Gibson agreed. "It does show a savings for the city, and so let's move on," he said. "Each time we do a study, that costs the city money in staff time."

Employees who take cars home are department managers and employees who can be called out at any time, Hamilton said.

"These employees can leave from their house and get to work fixing a problem sooner," Hamilton said.

One example used in the report was the malfunction of an emergency warning siren on the city's south side that sounded at 3 a.m. on a Saturday in December. A city electrician was dispatched to fix it.

"Because the electrician had his city truck at his residence, the response time was faster, and residents could go back to sleep sooner," Hamilton said. "This is not a luxury, it's a service."

Alderman Jim Fruin, Ward 9, said he is looking for more discussion on the topic.

Fruin, much like Purcell, said he wanted to know more about how often staff members are called out and where the employees who take home cars live so he can know the distance the employees drive on their daily commute.

Ward 6 Alderman Karen Schmidt had not received the report and said she was unable to comment until she could review it. Calls to Aldermen David Sage, Ward 2; Judy Stearns, Ward 4, and John Hanson, Ward 8, were not returned late Friday.