The expected projections from a mayoral task force were formally announced Wednesday.

Members of a citizens review panel - convened by then-Mayor Nancy Workman last year to investigate county vehicle abuses - looked on as county leaders outlined reforms.

"It seems to me, you get what we were trying to communicate in our report," panel member Glen Watkins told the officials. Using fleet as a "service center," he added, was "entirely the wrong focus."

Mayor Peter Corroon and Public Works Director John Patterson insist things have changed.

For instance: county cars will no longer be allowed for personal use. The minimum monthly mileage for a worker to get a car was boosted from 400 to 1,000. And the number of cars allowed to go home with employees was reduced by 44 percent.

A 20-member task force spent more than three months creating the plan that reduces the 2,286-vehicle fleet by 51 cars, downsizes 20 SUVs to sedans and calls for adding up to 75 gas-electric hybrids.

Officials also are returning $10 million in fleet surplus cash to the appropriate county funds.

Corroon said the fleet is "leaner and meaner."

"We have not reached the end; we have not reached the beginning of the end, but we may be nearing the end of the beginning," the mayor said, quoting Winston Churchill.

Phase two of the task force, which will focus on replacing cars after one or two years, is expected to yield more savings. It will be complete by mid-summer.

In other fleet news Wednesday: Hoang Nguyen, the director of information technology for Fleet Management, has been placed on paid administrative leave. Nguyen's boss, Nick Morgan, was placed on similar leave last week for allegedly falsifying travel vouchers and using county equipment for personal use.