Howard may be one of the wealthiest counties in the state. But it does not mean residents should pay for take-home cars for county employees, turning the local government into Trips-R-Us headquarters.

Following a review of staff reports, which showed plenty of personal motoring, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, a Democrat, decided to slash the number of take-home cars by 60 percent to 88 by September. “We felt that there were way too many people who had them who didn’t need them,” Ulman said. The policy change could save the county up to $700,000 per year.

In April, The Examiner reported that one employee logged more than 35,000 miles on a county car, while three others pushed 30,000. Howard County has 1,169.8 total miles of roads and highways Ulman should ask them where exactly they go.

With regular gas hovering near $4 per gallon and food prices soaring, it hardly seems fair to ask taxpayers to finance a perk very few in the private sector will ever enjoy.

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All department heads will keep their cars — a policy that should also be reviewed. Why can’t they log their miles and file expense reports to be reimbursed like the rest of us? Taxpayers no more deserve to pay for their long commutes home for those who choose to live outside the county or for trips to vacation spots on weekends than for other county employees.

County cars are not evil in themselves. It makes sense for some emergency and housing personnel, who spend all of their time in their cars, to have them. But each one should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Tax revenue growth is slowing throughout the state, making it imperative for counties to reassess their priorities and prepare for possible budget shortfalls. Many states and localities throughout the nation are struggling with the fallout from the credit crisis and are collecting less money than anticipated.

Earlier this week, New York Gov. David Paterson said he planned to call the state legislature into emergency session later this month to address a ballooning budget shortfall estimated at $6.4 billion, up from $5 billion projected in March when he took office.

Ulman’s move is a good first step to addressing budget problems. It should prompt similar reviews of car policies throughout the region and at the state level.  Gov. Martin O’Malley forced across-the-board tax increases on Marylanders last year, but we shall not be so receptive a second time around — especially when we must make personal sacrifices to sustain perquisites that didn’t make sense in boom times.