Under the gun to finalize a budget, and in search of millions of dollars to cut from it, Mayor Nagin has reviewed the inspector general's report on the city's take-home vehicle policy.

Robert Cerasoli found the city using at least 273 take-home cars, despite an ordinance that limits the administration and council to 60 cars.

"That is an outdated ordinance, and, to be quite frank with you, some of the potential savings in that report are just not real to me. I have looked at it. It has operation vehicles for permit people, it has City Council cars, it has district attorney cars. I just don't see how we get down to 60. But, there are probably some savings and we're going to look at that," said Nagin.

Cerasoli called his findings cases of misuse and abuse -- citing the city has no written criteria for assigning the city vehicles -- and doesn't monitor their use.

And says the 273 city-take home cars -- does not include city workers employed by the airport, the civil sheriff, criminal sheriff, Sewerage and Water Board, or the police department.

For Council President Jackie Clarkson, the findings are a significant factor in how the 2009 budget will be approached, and potentially altered.

"We have already cut some of the fleet, as you can see, in the original budget that came out. After the report came out, we found additional fleet to cut. Come Thursday and we will have a conclusion," she said.

Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, said the inspector general does not have the authority to change policies, but only to issue reports and reveal the findings. He said the city's response is a step in the right direction in more accountability for city government.

"I think it is a safe assumption to say we may not have 60 cars allowed to be taken home, but equally safe to say will probably will have substantially less than 273 cars that are presently going home," said Goyeneche. "That reduction will result in savings to taxpayers of this city and those funds can be used more strategically to further public safety or other important city issues," he said.

Cerasoli said eliminating the extra cars could save up to $1 million dollars--if not more.

Eyewitness News contacted the remaining City Council members to get their reaction, but none of them were available for comment Tuesday night.