FREEHOLD — The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders has announced that county employees no longer will be permitted to use a county vehicle to commute to work. Only those employees who have after-hours public health and safety responsibilities will have an assigned vehicle.

“In view of the current national crisis involving spiraling gasoline prices, we cannot in good faith ask taxpayers to foot the bill to cover commutation,” said Freeholder William C. Barham, who is liaison to the prosecutor’s office, the sheriff’s office and the Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management. “The remaining cars are used by public health and safety personnel and we will continue to allow those vehicles to be taken home in the interest of public safety.”

According to a press release, in August, the freeholders had directed county Administrator Louis Paparozzi to conduct a complete review of the county’s take-home vehicles and prepare by Sept. 30 a list of vehicles being used primarily for commutation, with a goal of reducing the county fleet. Due to the current national gasoline crisis, the freeholders have asked Paparozzi to make his recommendation sooner.

Therefore, the freeholders have decided that all employees using a county vehicle primarily for commutation purposes will need to find alternate methods of getting to work after Sept. 30.

“We have seen gasoline prices rise almost daily in recent weeks to an unprecedented $3-plus a gallon,” Freeholder Director Thomas J. Powers said. “This is going to affect our budget just like it is affecting everyone else’s, and we simply cannot justify paying for commutation to and from work. As stewards of the taxpayers’ money, we must seek ways to make spending cuts wherever possible.”

According to the press release, the most recent review of the county’s fleet revealed there are 248 vehicles that are allowed to be taken home, 60 percent of which are assigned to public health and safety personnel. Another 61 vehicles, or 25 percent, are work trucks used by the county’s highway crews. Paparozzi identified 69 vehicles that no longer will be allowed for commutation, leaving 179 take-home vehicles.

Of that 179 number that will remain, 124 are assigned to law enforcement and HazMat personnel, 46 are work trucks for the highway crews, and nine are cars spread out among the Monmouth County Park System, the Shade Tree Commission and Buildings and Grounds.

Of the 69 vehicles that no longer will be taken home by employees, 23 are law enforcement vehicles, 15 are work trucks and 31 are cars, which includes those driven by 27 department heads.

Included in the list of county employees giving up their commutation cars are Paparozzi, Deputy Monmouth County Administrator Kathleen Brady, Director of Finance Mark E. Acker, and clerk to the freeholder board James Gray. Members of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders have never been assigned county cars, although that practice is common in some other counties, according to the press release.

The 69 take-home cars will be reclassified as fleet vehicles and will assist with the county’s efforts to reduce the overall number of vehicles in its fleet, including some older models that will be auctioned for sale sometime next month.

Paparozzi said the county will continue to examine its needs for vehicles in the months ahead.