The District's fleet: Hardly fully loaded

1,143: that's the number of vehicles that the District of Columbia currently has in its fleet, according to documents obtained by WTOP's Mark Segraves and Paul Shinkman. Add that to that 215 vehicles that the District government currently has on lease, and the total cost of cars for public officials adds up to well over $50 million, plus $92,712.41 in lease payments every month.

Of course, those figures downplay how expensive Brown's Navigators were, relatively speaking:

The average cost of a D.C. public vehicle lease costs taxpayers about $430, almost 4.5 times less than Brown's Lincolns. The cheapest is a 2003 Chevy Venture the Department of Corrections began leasing in July 2007 for $207.43 per month. The most expensive vehicle is the Department of Disability Services' 2007 Grand Caravan, specially equipped for handicap use, for which the city pays $1,600 per month. Aside from that one vehicle, the next priciest is a 2008 Dodge Caravan, leased for the Office of Aging for $780.00 per month.

[Continue reading Aaron Morrissey's post at DCist.com.]

Aaron Morrissey blogs at DCist. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.