Sacramento Mayor Rolls In New $51K SUV

Monday, 06 September 2010

Hybrid Purchase Part Of City's Environmental Efforts, Johnson Says...Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's got a new car -- a jet-black sport utility vehicle with tinted windows, a hybrid engine and a satellite television dish on its roof. An invoice obtained by KCRA 3 shows the SUV came from a dealer near Fresno with a price tag of $51,250. To pay for it, the city of Sacramento used funding initially scheduled to replace two police vehicles; an aging Ford Expedition and a forklift used at the police department's property division. "So it's basically cost-neutral," Johnson said. The mayor's office said no taxpayer dollars were used to purchase the onboard television system. Previous Mayor Heather Fargo also had a chauffeured city vehicle, but a few months ago, Johnson decided he needed an upgrade. The Sacramento Police Department purchased the vehicle last spring at Johnson's request. "For the mayor of Sacramento, you have to lead by example," Johnson said. When asked about the purchase at a Thursday news conference, Johnson said it's part of his efforts to make the city more environmentally-friendly. "We talked about transitioning the city fleet by purchasing hybrid and low-emission vehicles and retiring those that we don't need and greening up," Johnson said. The mayor said the hybrid gets six more miles to the gallon than his previous car -- a 2007 Chevy Tahoe with 78,000 miles. The police department said it still has Johnson's old car and uses it as a backup car for the mayor and other city officials. Source:  kcra.com Bookmark Email This Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.

 

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