As most businesses do, one of the amenities given to Ohio University employees who travel frequently is a car.
In 2004, OU spent about $158,510 on car leases for 38 staff members who were provided a car.
Vehicles are assigned to employees with certain positions, said Larry Corrigan, interim vice president for Finance and Administration and Board of Trustees treasurer. Most of the employees who receive vehicles, which are leased in OU's name, are in the departments of Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA) or Communication Networks Services (CNS), two departments at OU in which employees travel the most. Employees usually receive a university credit card to cover the cost of gas.
Miami University of Ohio provides leased or university cars for 30 vice presidents and coaches for the same reason, said Claire Wagner, Miami's associate director of News and Public Information.
Corrigan and OU President Roderick McDavis, unlike the other 36 OU employees, have yearly automobile allowances included in their incomes to purchase their own cars. McDavis receives $800 per month or $9,600 a year plus auto insurance for his car, and Corrigan is allotted $500 per month or $6,000 a year toward his car.
However, the yearly gross income of the other employees is increased for tax purposes and depends on an IRS formula, which calculates the personal miles they drove that year and how expensive the vehicle is. For instance, Leonard Raley, vice president for University Advancement, said he claimed almost 5,000 personal miles in 2004 and using the IRS formula then added an estimated $4,000 to his taxes.
Each employee is in charge of keeping track of personal miles, which the IRS defines. For example, driving from home to work is a personal mile.
Employees sometimes drive cars that are donated to OU by dealerships or cars that were purchased with money given to the university purposely for a car.
For example, in 1997 a cash donation was given to OU to be used for a vehicle for the assistant vice president of development, Raley said. The money, which was a gift from an alumnus, was used for a $2,100 yearly lease of a 1997 Jeep Cherokee.
The cars and money provided for Corrigan, Raley and John Burns, director of legal affairs, come from the OU Foundation. Each of the three plays various roles within the foundation but do not get paid for their positions, Raley said.
The cars for Burns and Raley and the car allowance for Corrigan are another form of compensation.
In 2004 alone, the 36 employees who are provided cars drove more than 340,000 miles for OU-related reasons. Samba Johnson, the assistant women's basketball coach, drove 29,000 miles alone.
The job I do requires me to go to almost every building on campus and some of the regional campuses so for me (a car) is pretty much a necessity
said Scott Adler of CNS, who was assigned a 1999 Dodge Caravan.
A local dealership donated a 2003 Escalade EXT to Tim O'Shea, head coach of the OU men's basketball team, which O'Shea said is typical in coaching.
Four of the provided cars for coaches were donated by dealers, said Thomas Boeh, director of athletics.
Because of recent changes in the athletic department, many of the coaches listed in the 2004 report are no longer employed at OU. ICA will also give coaches an automobile allowance like McDavis and Corrigan instead of providing the leased and owned cars.
Boeh said the policy change will be more cost efficient and prevent the following situation from occurring: The university was stuck with a car they could not use because a 6'1 tall coach was replaced by someone almost eight inches taller than him and was too tall for the car. The automobile allowances will start as soon as the leases are up -some are set to end in April.
