Ask Mr. Answer Person: "Do city or county employees drive their work vehicles home?"

Leann e-mails: "Do city and county workers drive their work vehicles home and if so, why?"

Mr. Answer Person says: "You'll get two different answers to this question.  City Clerk Wanda Hemesath says the City of Decorah in 2011 stopped the practice of allowing city workers to take home their city-owned vehicles.

County Auditor Ben Steines says "Certain county workers are allowed to drive their work vehicles home, with the County Board's permission."  These are employees like sheriff's deputies or snow plow operators who might get called out to work during the night.

In the case of a "regular" county-owned vehicle, Steines says, "We track how many days they drive to/from work with a county vehicle but don't have to respond to an emergency.  In those cases (where they just drive home and back) they are charged income tax per IRS rules for that 'taxable fringe benefit.'"