BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Erie County Department of Public Works has responded to an audit from the Erie County Comptroller's Office that claimed over 300 county vehicles were unaccounted for.
This is a story we first told you about in December 2025 after the Comptroller's Office called for a better way to track and manage county vehicles, after an audit of the Bureau of Fleet Services found 365 vehicles unaccounted for.
WATCH: Comptroller voices concerns after audit finds over 300 Erie County vehicles unaccounted for
We then followed through and spoke to county lawmakers who reacted to the audit.
"People are concerned about it," Legislator Jeanne Vinal said in December. "I'm concerned about it. Taxpayers are concerned about it."
Now, Commissioner of Public Works William Geary, Jr. and Erie County Bureau of Fleet Services Manager Joseph Mirabelli issued an update and said the county's vehicle fleet has "been the focus of considerable misinformation and inaccurate reporting following the release of a departmental audit from the Office of the Erie County Comptroller."
According to the DPW, it flagged several inconsistencies with the audit and is "setting the record straight about how the fleet operates."
“The recent audit did not provide an accurate snapshot of day-to-day fleet operations, made references to ‘missing vehicles’ that are indeed NOT missing, and left Fleet holding the bag for decisions that were made in the offices of other elected officials or on issues that we were not aware of. While there were some fueling issues to clean up and other administrative items to address, these are manageable and will be completed. It becomes a problem when inaccurate ‘information’ is reported, so we want to correct that misinformation.”
The DPW said the audit “finding” that hundreds of vehicles are missing/unaccounted for from the county fleet "is false and only requires an understanding of how automotive leases work to reconcile."
"The Bureau of Fleet Services maintains a perpetual inventory system and plans lease renewals in advance, while the Fleet Manager schedules vehicles for replacement by adding the “new” vehicles to the fleet listing and noting the vehicles to be replaced," a release says. "For example, the Bureau of Fleet Services may know in November that it will be replacing a set number of vehicles in February of the following year; this is several months before actual trade-in occurs and the new vehicle is considered active. In this way vehicles are constantly moving in and out of the county fleet."
According to Geary, all vehicles that are supposed to be part of the fleet are part of the fleet.
In addition to vehicles reportedly being unaccounted for, there were concerns involving county personnel’s use of take-home vehicles and the county's EKOS/Gasboy fueling system.
“The audit noted that various departments had not notified Fleet Services when the need for or the status of a 24-Hour Take-Home Vehicle changed, but the responsibility for that notification rests with each department or office, not with Fleet. When annual recertification forms are sent to division heads there is a reminder that they are to notify us in the event of any changes, but that does not always happen,” said Commissioner Geary. “In order to improve accountability with take-home vehicles we will be installing AVL’s on all vehicles that do not currently have them and reviewing all records in the inventory to ensure that the correct personnel, vehicles, and procedures are in place.”
Geary also said that fleet will be taking measures to improve efficiency and recordkeeping with the EKOS/Gasboy system.
