The Lake County commissioners' edict on cutting back use of take-home vehicles has had some effect on government waste, but there's plenty more fat to trim.

The latest entity to face the knife is the Lake County Solid Waste Management District, whose administrative staff will lose take-home car privileges and must now stop feeding business guests using public funds.

"I hope the four of us will receive a car allowance instead so we can buy whatever (private vehicle) we want and get past the drive-home car issue," Executive Director Jeffery Langbehn said recently.

Of course, those officials should receive per-mile compensation for using their private vehicle while on public business. But that's just the point. The public should not be expected to pay for anyone's private use of a vehicle.

Anyone who uses a government vehicle for private business creates extra liability, on top of operating expenses, for the government. Who gets sued if a take-home vehicle blows through a stop sign and rams another car? The government, of course, because of its deep pockets. Remove take-home privileges, and that exposure to lawsuits drops dramatically.

Langbehn has to cut $400,000 from the district's $5 million budget in 2009, the result of the property tax caps that are putting government on a diet. One position on his staff won't be filled, and the district's three enviromobiles, which promote recycling, will not be driven home by staff members.

Two vehicles will be sold, and two pickup trucks now used as take-home vehicles will become pool vehicles.

Finally, the district's employees won't pick up the tab for business guests. Instead, they'll have to split the check, with the government paying for the employees' meals and the business guests paying for their own.

"The district's position going back to 1993 has been that if we go to lunch, I was always instructed to pay for anything," Langbehn said. "There was such a concern that in the past Lake County would be bought off for a golf game."

The new policy addresses that ethical concern, and it saves the taxpayers money at the same time.

One final point about cost-cutting at the Lake County Solid Waste Management District: We have seen wave after wave of cutting back on the use of take-home vehicles. Rather than hold various departments' feet to the fire in turns, it would be better to do it all at once and apply the rules to everyone at the same time.

The taxpayers expect uniform enforcement of these policies. So why shouldn't the government?