Cost-conscious Dunedin squeezes more miles from city fleet  Just
like individuals, local governments have to decide when is the
right time to replace a vehicle that is beginning to show wear.
In the past, governments often made that decision according to a
formula that ensured vehicles were replaced before maintenance
costs went up. But the tough economy has some local governments
rethinking those formulas. Witness the Dunedin City Commission's
recent public debate over whether a city-owned SUV with only
44,000 miles on it should be traded in.  It's not typical for
the City Commission, a policy-making body, to micromanage
decisions about replacing city cars and pickup trucks.
Commissioners normally leave that decision to the city staff,
which has used a typical formula to calculate when a vehicle has
gotten too old to be useful.  But dollars are hard to come by
these days, so commissioners want to stretch every penny. And
one city commissioner, Dave Carson, has managed a fleet of work
vehicles for years at th