US News

POLS GET FREE RIDE

The city’s top elected officials will no longer have to reimburse the treasury when they use their taxpayer-funded official cars and drivers for purely personal purposes, The Post has learned.

Sources said the Conflicts of Interest Board has decided, after intensive study, to recommend that elected officials assigned to travel with police security can go anywhere they want in their government vehicles without having to repay the city.

That would include trips on weekends, trips to run personal errands and trips outside the five boroughs.

“It’s pretty surprising that they’re going in that direction,” said one source. “It’s a pretty sweeping change.”

The ruling – expected to be made public within a couple of weeks – would impact only the four officials who are provided a security detail: Mayor Bloomberg, Comptroller William Thompson, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Bloomberg and Quinn asked the conflicts board in November 2006 to formulate guidelines on the use of official vehicles, not long after former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi got into hot water for assigning a government employee to chauffeur his ailing wife.

Hevesi resigned after pleading guilty to defrauding the government.

“Unfortunately, while elected officials want to adhere to the highest standards, New York City does not have an explicit and consistent set of guidelines governing this area,” Bloomberg and Quinn wrote.

The city’s car rules are so undefined that officials have been setting their own policies, often by the seat of the pants.

Gotbaum scrambled to fork over about $3,400 in late 2006 to pay four years’ worth of estimated bills covering her civilian driver’s time, gas, mileage and tolls when she wasn’t on official business.

Thompson over a five-year period shelled out more than $44,000, including $35,284 for his driver and $9,406 for mileage and tolls.

Aides said the payments covered political stops because the comptroller doesn’t use his government vehicle for strictly personal business.

Quinn reported paying $2,784 from her campaign account for the political use of her official car in 2006.

A spokeswoman last year said she would continue to make regular payments from then on.

Bloomberg made the entire issue moot when he ran for re-election in 2005 by simply picking up the entire cost of his city-supplied SUV.

One insider said the conflicts board’s ruling would certainly be welcomed, but probably wouldn’t have much impact on officials who have to be concerned about appearances.

“I’d bet some continue paying,” said the insider.

david.seifman@nypost.com