AUBURN – City supervisors may have to rely on their personal cars, councilors said Monday.

Councilors said they favored doing away with a city policy that lets supervisors in public works, fire and electrical departments take home city vehicles. The supervisors are frequently called to respond to emergencies ranging from fires to road maintenance.

“But if they’re on call, let them use a city vehicle,” Councilor Dan Herrick said. “They can park their car in the shop and take a city vehicle home and then bring it back the next day. But I just can’t see letting them take those vehicles home if they’re not on call.”

The city provides nine vehicles for staff. One goes to fire department officials, one goes to the city electrician and the rest to public works supervisors. City Manager Glenn Aho said the public works staff responds to about three emergency calls per week, the fire inspector to 22 per year and the city electrician about 80 per year. In all, the city spends about $8,471 per year on gasoline for those vehicles.

Herrick said he favored paying those supervisors for their mileage if they need to use their personal cars to respond to an emergency.

“I just have a problem with paying for a second vehicle for the family,” Herrick said. “I think we can still function if we do something different, put the burden more on the people who work here instead of the taxpayers.”

Aho said he would present some policy changes at a future meeting.