Guide to Calculating Ownership and Operating Costs of Department of Transportation Vehicles and Equipment: An Accounting Perspective (2020)

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55 Fleet Characteristic 7. Treatment of Other Fleet Cost Centers Fleet group “sells” to customers and includes markup to cover the direct and indirect costs of these programs X X X The costs (fuel, parts, and sublet repairs) are tracked by equipment unit X X X X X X X X X X X The costs are borne directly by the Maintenance Department/others X X 8. Accident Repair Costs The costs are segregated from other maintenance and repair costs X X X X X X X X X X Accident costs are included with routine maintenance and repair costs X X X X 9. Equipment Rental Rates Uses equipment rental rates to recover costs of equipment (for internal accounting, not for federal reimbursement) X X X X

56 12. APPENDIX E. INTERVIEW GUIDE The following questions were used to inform this Guide; they were asked during telephone interviews with 15 fleet managers. Responses to these questions are summarized above in Table 13 of Appendix D. 1. Interviewee name and organization. 2. Approximate number of owned or managed equipment units (number of on-road vehicles and major equipment greater than $5k in value). 3. Number of shop locations and total mechanics. 4. Description of the ownership model of the light-duty fleet (multiple selections allowed): a Agency owns b Agency leases from another public agency (such as general services) c Agency leases from a private-sector vendor 5. How fleet function is structured in the operation: a. The fleet operates an enterprise function (generates revenues through equipment rental charges and pays all costs of owning and maintaining the fleet) b. Fleet is a cost center within maintenance c. Fleet is a line item within the agency budget d. Other (describe) 6. Role of the central fleet group/unit: a. Centrally manages all shops and repairs b. Shops are under the field management (and report to the district engineer), with some indirect reporting responsibility to the central fleet unit c. Fleet group only handles specification development, fleet policies, and similar (such as initial delivery and upfitting and savage operations) d. Other (describe) 7. Source of equipment purchasing (acquisition) funds: a. Sinking/enterprise fund b. Agency budget line item c. Legislative appropriation d. Other (identify)

57 8. How equipment upfitting costs are captured and accounted for: a. Aggregated with purchase costs and depreciated over the life of equipment b. Included with the first-year maintenance and repair costs c. Other (describe) 9. Where proceeds go from equipment that is sold/salvaged: a. Returned to fleet operations b. Goes to the agency’s general fund c. Goes to another agency/state budget d. Other (identify) 10. How equipment maintenance and repair costs are handled: a. Have a shop rate established and charge against equipment as maintenance and repairs are performed b. Equipment maintenance and repairs costs are not tracked by unit c. Other (describe) 11. Whether agency has shop rate established: a. Yes/no b. If yes, what is shop rate and which of the following items are included: i. Mechanics’ direct hourly rate ii. Mechanics’ indirect labor additives 1. Health insurance 2. Vacation time 3. Facilities’ costs 4. Utility costs iii. Other indirect costs 1. Fleet manager 2. Admin staff 3. IT support staff 4. Other staff c. Which non-productive labor time is tracked: i. Shop start-up activities ii. End-of-day clean-up time iii. Safety meetings iv. Breaks and meals

58 12. How fuel, parts, and outsourced repairs costs are handled (multiple selections allowed): a. Fleet group “sells” to customers and includes a cost markup to cover direct and indirect costs of these programs b. Costs are tracked by equipment unit c. Costs are borne directly by Maintenance Department/others d. Costs are treated as overhead e. These items are purchased through another agency f. Other (detail) 13. How accident repair costs are handled: a. Costs are segregated from other maintenance and repair costs b. Costs are included with routine maintenance and repair costs 14. Whether equipment repairs caused by user error or abuse are handled any differently from routine maintenance and repairs (such as whether equipment damages caused by operator abuse being charged back to field operations rather than fleet budget). 15. Whether agency has equipment rental rates: a. Yes/no b. If yes, what equipment classes/types are included/excluded? (for example, small equipment is “owned” by field operations and not tracked) c. If yes, what costs are included? (multiple selections) i. Replacement costs (capital costs/amortization) ii. Maintenance and repair costs iii. Indirect costs d. If yes, how are various rate components compiled and charged? (description) 16. What information are you most seeking from this study?