City says $26 million fleet discrepancy tied to accounting code

The City of Fernley said a $26 million discrepancy in reported fleet spending for FY24-25 was due to an accounting code that combined fleet and grant expenses. The issue, highlighted by DOGE Nevada, made OpenGov.com’s portal show inflated numbers, including nearly $20 million in grant-funded projects under the Fleet category. The city has updated its accounting structure and is working to correct the portal to ensure accurate and transparent reporting.

Robert Perea
10/16/2025 11:24 AM

City says $26 million fleet discrepancy tied to accounting code

The City of Fernley said this week that a $26 million discrepancy in its reported fleet

expenditures from its 2024-25 fiscal year budget was the result of an accounting code that

combined fleet and grant expenses.

The discrepancy was reported by the website DOGE Nevada, which pointed out that the city had

spent $25.7 million on its vehicle fleet since 2012.

DOGE Nevada’s article highlights what appears to be a significant discrepancy between the

City’s reported fleet spending and its actual vehicle and equipment inventory. Specifically, the

article references a $29 million fleet budget for FY25 and compares it to approximately $3

million in fleet purchases made between 2012 and mid-2024.

The numbers cited in the article were pulled from Fernley’s OpenGov.com Transparency Portal,

which aggregates financial data for public viewing. But a statement issued this week by

Management Analyst Casey Kasten on behalf of the city said that, due to a legacy accounting

structure, the portal has been displaying inflated figures for the Fleet Department for some time.

The city’s statement said that historically, both the city’s Grants Fund and General Fund Fleet

Department expenditures were assigned the same department code (-480). This caused the portal

to combine expenditures from both areas, including nearly $20 million in grant-funded capital

projects, such as the Community Response and Resource Center construction, under the Fleet

category. Additionally, the city said OpenGov.com’s reporting method adds revenues and

expenditures together, further distorting the totals.

For example, in Fiscal Year 2024, the city budgeted $173,000 for fleet but reported $8.1 million

in spending, which the city said is largely due to grant-related expenditures like the Community

Response and Resource Center.

In FY25, the portal shows $29.4 million in total fleet spending, which the city says includes both

revenues and expenditures from grant-funded projects, not actual fleet purchases.

To prevent future confusion, the city’s statement said the city revised its accounting structure in

May 2025 as part of the FY26 budget process, assigning distinct department codes to separate

grant and fleet expenditures. The city’s statement also said staff are actively working to update

the OpenGov.com Portal to reflect accurate department-level data and ensure transparency

moving forward.

The city received a public records request from the website asking for detailed records about the

city’s fleet spending. The city’s statement said it will work to provide a breakdown of operating

vs. capital fleet costs; budget amendments for FY23 and FY24; purchase orders for large

acquisitions; asset register updates and internal charge schedules. Each of those items were listed

in the DOGE Nevada article as records it was requesting.

“We understand the importance of public trust and are taking steps to ensure our financial

reporting meets the highest standards,” the city’s statement said. “We always encourage residents

to reach out with questions and will continue to provide updates as we correct the data