The city of Honolulu's management of its passenger vehicles involves "weak oversight" of purchasing practices and follows no policy on replacing vehicles, according to a review by the city auditor that was reported in the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

The audit, which was released Oct. 9, also found that employees were allowed to take home city owned-vehicles without proper authorization and that the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services was improperly assessing taxable benefits for employees with take-home vehicle privileges.

Because of poor management practices in the city's Department of Facilities Maintenance, the aging fleet of sedans, pickup trucks, vans and sport/utility vehicles do not meet goals the City Council set for achieving a more efficient fleet of hybrid vehicles, the audit found.

But Jeoffrey Cudiamat, the department's director of facility maintenance, responded to the audit by saying the findings may be "overstated" because the analysis was limited to only passenger vehicles and not the entire fleet.

The audit's recommended that the city consider aligning all management responsibilities for its vehicle fleet under one agency. It also recommended that the department develop a comprehensive fleet management plan to include possible standardized fleet specifications, replacement policies, benchmarks, evaluation requirements and other industry-recommended practices.